Friendship Or Complication
by Winchestergirl123
Summary: Melanie Gilbert just wants to survive her crazy supernatural life. Falling in love never crossed her mind, but imagine her surprise when she finally does. She never planned for these feelings to come out of hiding, making her question who she really is as a person. All she knows though is that you can't always control what the heart wants. Rebekah/OFC. •Cover by January Lily•
1. Chapter 1: Who is she?

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of it's characters. I only own my OC.**

**Story details:**

**Title:** Friendship or Complication

**Rating:** T

**OFC: **Melanie Gilbert, is the younger sister of Elena and Jeremy Gilbert(who is older than her by 11 months. Meaning they are Irish twins). She's an introvert, who likes to spend time with people she knows and trusts such as her family and close friends like Bonnie, Caroline, Stefan, Damon, Tyler, Matt, and Alaric. Just like her older sister she is a compassionate person who always puts others before herself. She tends to keep everything to herself not wanting to bother others with her personal problems. Since she is the youngest of the Gilbert's they tend to be overprotective towards her_—_especially Elena. When she has time to herself she is usually reading, playing the piano, or taking photos with her camera. She's the type of person that enjoys the little things in life such as watching the sunset or looking at the stars at night. She thought she had everything figured out about herself, until she met a certain blonde original vampire who ends up opening new doors for her to go through, making her question who she really is...

**Age:**16

**Main Pairing**: Rebekah/OFC

**Warning: **This story will include same sex pairings, so if you don't like that then this story is not for you.

**Setting: **Takes place in season 3 and so on.

Hey guys! So I've been wanting to write a Fan-Fic about The Vampire Diaries for a while now but I wanted to make it different from the others one I've read. I've read lots of story's with the originals having love interest but haven't found any with Rebekah having one so I decided that I would try to write one myself using an OFC. I hope you guys give this story a shot and end up liking it (: If your wondering who I picture as Melanie I would say think of Hailee Steinfeld :)

Anyways please review and favorite, it would mean the world to me (:

* * *

_"Friendship at first sight, like love at first sight, is said to be the only truth." _

_Herman Melville _

_**Chapter 1:Who is she?**_

Senior prank night.

That's what I was doing right now with my older sister and friends. Though it didn't really make any sense to me to why I was here. Since I'm not a senior yet, but they kept insisting for me to go, so I gave in into their pleas. It's not like I had anything else to do. Jeremy wasn't at home for me to bother him and well this just seemed like the better option to go with. Besides I was having fun putting all these mouse traps on the floor. I couldn't wait to see the face on the teacher when class started tomorrow. I could already practically see the look of shock on their face in my mind.

Just as we were about to finish setting the mouse traps, someone opened the classroom door making them all go off.

Oh man. Just Great. Now we were gonna have to set them up again!

I looked up to see who had opened the door only to see Matt standing there with a confused look on his face.

Caroline apparently felt the same way as I did, annoyed that all the traps were off. She huffed. "Oh come on seriously! Do know how long it took for us to set all this up?!" She yelled at Matt.

"Forgot about senior prank night huh?" Tyler told Matt while leaning on a desk.

Matt just shook his head. "Clearly."

"How could you forget? We've only been waiting for this since like freshmen year!" Caroline told him with her arms in the air.

My sister, who was sitting on top of a desk just smiled at him. "Yeah Matt, if Melanie and I are doing this then so are you."

I looked towards Matt smiling. "She's right Matt, have some school spirit." I told him doing a little lame dance causing everyone to laugh.

"I'm kind of surprised any of you are doing this, especially you Mel." Matt said.

"Well Caroline's making us, plus everyone wouldn't stop bugging me about it until I caved in." I told him shrugging my shoulders.

Caroline sighed before looking back at him. "We're about to be seniors."

I coughed and raised my hand. "Except me." I said with a grin.

Caroline gave me a playful eye roll before continuing. "These are the memories that stay with us forever. Doesn't matter if you're a senior or not Melanie." She said staring back at me. "Because if we don't-"

"If we don't create these memories now, then what's the point of it all." My sister finished for her with a smile on her face making everyone snicker.

"Go ahead and make fun I don't care." Caroline told us with an eye roll.

Tyler just scoffed at us. "You're all lame, and I've got ten more classrooms to prank." Grabbing a large black bag off the floor, he made his way through the rooms door and left us.

My sister then jumped from where she was sitting and headed towards the door as well.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Bonnie asked her.

My sister glanced over her shoulder and smirked. "To superglue Alaric's desk shut." She winked at us. "I'm making memories."

"That's genius!" I told her laughing along with the rest of my friends.

"I love you!" called out Caroline to her as she walked out of the room.

Bonnie then turned to me and grinned. "Hey you want to go teepee the pool?"

My eyes lit up instantly. "Pssh of course."

As we were walking out I turned towards Matt and smiled. "Yo Matty, you coming?"

Matt just gave me a smile back and nodded.

* * *

Bonnie, Matt, and I were throwing toilet paper all around the pool.

Bonnie looked over towards Matt and I. I smiled as she threw a roll in the air. "This is fun, right?" She asked us.

"Yeah it is." I told her was I threw another roll making it land in the middle of the pool.

"Nice throw." said Matt before he turned to Bonnie and sighed. "You sound like Caroline."

Bonnie just shrugged her shoulders. "Come on, I am embracing her philosophy, you should be more into this like Melanie is."

I just threw another roll as she said my name. The role landed in the middle of the pool again. I clapped my hands and shouted. "Yes another one!"

Matt and Bonnie just gave me small side glance smiles.

"I know" Matt sighed. "By the way where's Jeremy tonight? He questioned.

I just shook my head. "I haven't seen him all day."

"I haven't talked to him either." Bonnie then looked down on the floor awkwardly. "We're having um...he told me about you seeing Vicki."

Ahhh, so Jeremy did tell her about that. I was wondering if he did or not.

Matt looked relived when she said that. "Ohh good, I'm glad that you know."

Bonnie then frowned. "I'm sorry, is it weird talking about your sister like this?"

Matt then sighed and shook his head., "No I-I just kind of want to see her myself, you know? I mean I never got to say goodbye to her." He exhaled a large breath. "Do you realize just last summer You and I were life guards at the pool?"

Bonnie nodded her head. "Mmm."

"Yeah I remember that. You guys taught me how to swim." I said smiling at the memory.

Matt nodded his head. "Yeah and the only problems I had in my life was teaching Mel how to swim, Elena breaking up with me, and me sucking at CPR."

Bonnie looked mused and nodded. "Everything was so different then." Yeah things were different. I can still picture those summer days when I was just hanging out with them. I missed those days.

Matt then had a sad expression on his face. "Yeah now Elena's dating a vampire, you're a witch, my sister's a ghost ...and I'm just a guy wondering how life got screwed up."

Poor Matt...It sucked that he was going through this alone.

Bonnie then gave Matt a sincere look. "It's crazy, Matt I...I can't Imagine what it must be like for you."

He gave us a fake smile. "It just uh kind of explains, why I'm not that into senior prank night. I'll go grab a couple of more rolls. Then we'll hit the gym." He said walking away to go to one of the bathrooms.

I looked towards Bonnie and saw she had the same expression on her face as me.

Sadness for our friend.

* * *

We were walking back to the gym to go see how everyone else was doing.

As soon was we opened the doors though we became instantly shocked.

"You guys get out of here!" Yelled my sister.

Our eyes grew wide when we saw the original hybrid next to her.

Klaus then flashed towards Bonnie, "Ah I was wondering when you'd show up. Now we can get started." He smiled at her before looking over his shoulder and stared at the other two teens that where there, "Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight." He then turned back to Bonnie and gave her an accusing look. "I assume you're the reason Elena's still walking around alive?"

Bonnie just gave him a hard look, not showing any ounce of fear. "That's right if you want to blame someone, blame me."

Klaus just smirked at her. "There's no need for blame love. Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects. And since you caused the problem, I'm going to have you find the fix." Just as he finished his sentence I heard the gym door open again and saw a young blonde girl walk in holding Tyler.

Who was she?

Tyler groaned at the blonde girl. "Get off me!"

"Tyler!" I yelled moving over towards him only to be stopped by Klaus.

"Ahh, can't have you interfering little Gilbert" He said pushing me back to where my sister was.

When I came close to my sister she instantly took a hold of me putting me behind her.

Klaus then pointed at the blonde girl. "I'd like you all to meet my sister Rebekah, word of warning...she can be quite mean." He said smirking.

"Don't be an ass." She said as she threw Tyler at him.

I noticed that she also to had an accent like him and had ocean blue eyes that I couldn't stop staring at for some reason.

As if she sensed me staring she turned towards me and gave me a smirk. I quickly looked away embarrassed that I was caught.

"Leave him alone!" My sister yelled at Klaus.

"I'm gonna make this very simple.." Klaus started off saying. "Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire hybrid they die during transition. It's quite horrible actually." I then watched as Klaus bit into his wrist and forced feed his blood into Tyler's mouth. "I need you to find a way to save my hybrids Bonnie, and for Tyler's sake you better hurry." He then snapped Tyler's neck killing him.

Bonnie, Matt, My sister, and I stood there in shock as one of our friends laid on the floor dead.

* * *

I was next to Matt as he was near Tyler's dead body. "He killed him." He whispered in hate looking at Klaus.

I began shaking my head. "He's not dead."

My sister just nodded while she was pacing. "He's not dead. Klaus blood will turn him into a vampire."

"And if Bonnie's successful he'll live through his transition. Go on, then go fetch your grimories and enhancement and what-not I'll hold on to Elena and little Gilbert here for safe keeling." Klaus said smiling as he took a hold of mine and my sister's arm.

We just nodded our heads at Bonnie letting her know it was alright.

She just gave us a sad look as she and Matt left the gym to try to find that spell.

Leaving us in a room with two original vampires...

Oh great...

Rebekah then came up and turned to look at my sister with a hard grimace on her face. "So this is the latest doppelganger? The original one was much prettier."

My sister just gave her a glare after she heard her say that.

Rebekah then turned to look at me. After a few more second of just looking at me, a smirk appeared on her face before turning towards Elena again. "Your sister here is much prettier."

I gave her a questioning look while I tried to control the blush that was trying to appear on my cheeks. Except I think it was noticeable since Rebekah wouldn't stop smirking at me.

"Enough Rebekah, take the wolf boy elsewhere would you." Klaus told her and I watched as Rebekah gave us one last look as she grabbed Tyler's ankle pulling him behind her.

Klaus then whispered to us. "Just ignore her, petty little thing." I watched her walk away unable to stop thinking about those haunting blue eyes of her's.

* * *

Elena and I were sitting on the floor trying to comfort the other two teens that were stuck in here with us.

I then heard the gym doors open and saw Stefan walk in. "Oh my God." I whispered in a low voice.

Elena must off had the same feeling because her face was full of surprised. "Stefan..."

Stefan looked towards the hybrid. "Klaus."

Klaus just gave him a tight smile. "Come to save your damsel mate?" He asked as he stood up from the bleachers he had been siting on.

"I came to ask for your forgiveness." Stefan replied to him, ignoring the looks of confusion my sister and I were sending him. "And pledge my loyalty."

Klaus just his head not believing him. "Well you broke that pledge one already."

"Elena means nothing to me anymore." Stefan told him with a serious voice. I saw the look of devastation on my sister's face. I rubbed her back trying to comfort her. "And whatever you ask of me I will do."

Klaus looked towards the other two teens before he spoke to Stefan again. "Fair enough. Let's drink on it. Kill them." When he saw Stefan wasn't moving he grew impatient." What are you waiting for? Kill them."

"No!" Elena yelled, "Stefan don't. He's not going to hurt me. He already said-" Before my sister could finish saying her sentence she was suddenly slapped across the face by Klaus making her fall onto the floor.

"Elena!" I cried as I rushed over to her to make sure she was alright.

Damn hybrid.

I then saw how Stefan lunged at Klaus ready to attack him. Klaus though got a hold on his neck, stopping him in time.

"She means nothing to you?! Your lies keep piling up." Klaus said with an angry glare.

Stefan looked panicked. "Let them go! I'll do whatever you want, you have my word!"

"Your word doesn't mean much. I lived by your word all summer, during which time I never had to resort to this..." I then saw how he started compelling him, _Oh no Stefan!_ I thought. "Stop fighting."

Stefan then started begging him. "Don't do this, don't do this."

"I didn't want to. All I wanted was your allegiance. Now I'm going to have to take it." Klaus told him.

"Don't, don't." Stefan continued to beg.

Klaus not listening to him, continued on with his complusion. "You will do exactly as I say when I say it. You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply obey."

"No Stefan!" Elena yelled.

As saw how Stefan was looking at the two teens with an expressionless face. This wasn't the Stefan I knew. This was someone else. Someone else who had no care about human life.

Klaus looked pleased. "Now kill them ripper."

Stefan then lunged at the teens, as Elena and I helplessly watched him drain their blood.

* * *

**3rd POV**

Rebekah was sitting besides the lockers, waiting for Caroline to wake up from her 'nap' when she decided to go through her phone.

Interesting inventions the modern world has come up with. She thought to herself as she was observing the device.

She heard a groan letting her know that Caroline was waking up.

Caroline turned towards her and Rebekah gave her a fake smile. "We didn't have mobile telephone's in my day. Would have made life a whole a lot easier, I suppose." She told her as she took a picture of herself.

"Where's Tyler?" asked Caroline.

"He's dead." Rebekah replied in a bored voice. "Ish."

Caroline then saw Tyler's body laying on the floor and she began to panic. "What did you do to him?"

Rebekah tired of talking to her just simply sighed. "Think of it as he's having a nap, when he wakes up, he'll be a hybrid."

She continued to go through her phone looking at all the pictures she had. Which included pictures of Caroline and Tyler smiling at the camera, Stefan and Caroline too, Bonnie making a funny face with her tongue sticking out. Except what made her stop and stare for a while was when she got to a picture of the doppelganger's sister. It was a simple picture of her just standing near a lake smiling at the camera her smile showing off her dimples and bright eyes. For some reason it made her happy...she quickly shook those thoughts away and moved to the next picture. It was a picture of Stefan and Elena together.

"Ugh vomit." She hissed and was about to click on the next picture when she noticed something. Her blue eyes narrowed at the photo. "Is that my necklace..."

She immediately got up and walked towards Caroline showing her the picture with Elena wearing her necklace. "Why is that doppelganger bitch wearing my necklace?!"

* * *

Elena and I watched as Stefan was draining the life out of the boy in front of us. After a minute or two he dropped his body on the floor dead.

"It's always nice to see a vampire in his true element. The species has become such a broody lots." Klaus told us, taking in our disturbed faces.

"No you did this to him." I told him with a glare.

"I invited him to the party, love. He's the one dancing on the table." He told me not taking my glare seriously.

All of a sudden I heard the doors open and saw Rebekah storm in rushing towards Elena.

"Where is it? Where's my necklace?!" She ordered at my sister with a furious look.

"What are you talking about?" Klaus ask her while pinching his nose. I'm guessing her outburst annoyed him.

"She has my necklace, look!" I saw her hand him what looked like Caroline's phone and showed him a picture of Elena and Stefan. I'm guessing she was wearing the necklace in the picture.

Klaus just sighed. "Well well more lies."

Rebekah's voice then got low and deadly. "Where is it?" She asked full on glaring at my sister.

"I don't have it anymore." Elena said shakin her head. Which was true she didn't.

Rebekah though didn't believe her. "You're lying!" She screamed at her before she lunged at her, biting her neck.

"NO!" I yelled, as Klaus got his sister off Elena.

"Knock it off!" Klaus yelled at Rebekah.

"Make her tell me where it is Nik!" She yelled back him.

I made my way to Elena and crouched down to give her a hug and comfort.

Klaus made his way towards and bent down and looked at her. "Where's the necklace sweetheart? Be honest."

Elena whimpered as she put a hand on her injured throat. "I'm telling the truth. Katherine stole it."

"She's right she took from her." I said backing her up while continuing to comfort her.

Klaus just sighed. "Katerina...Of course. Well that's unfortunate. If we had the necklace it would make things a whole lot easier for your witch, but since we're doing this the hard way, let's put a clock on it shall we?" he then walked towards the board timer and locked in '20 minutes' on it. "If Bonnie hasn't found a solution by then, I want you to feed again, Only this time I want you to feed on Elena. You know you want to." He told Stefan, taunting him.

"No! Klaus! Don't do this to him!" Elena begged him.

"She tries to leave fracture her spine." Klaus told him and then gave me a side glance. "Same goes for little Gilbert as well."

After that he walked off with Rebekah following him as she gave me one quick look before leaving completely.

* * *

Stefan was pacing back and forth trying to control himself. The timer only had six minutes left and timing was running out.

Elena's face then lit up as if she remembered something. "Caroline's dad! Stefan he was able to resist compulsion. I don't know how but he did it. Maybe it's possible."

Stefan just took a huge breath before laughing bitterly. "Yeah, yeah, maybe it's mind control right? Maybe it just takes some focus, a couple of decades of training. No big deal."

I looked towards Elena who was giving Stefan a serious face. "Stefan you can control this. When the buzzer goes off just drink from me."

His voice suddenly got cold making me take a hold of Elena's hand. "You don't get it! I can't stop Elena! I'm a ripper! A ripper doesn't stop ! I listen to the words from your mouth, and all I hear is the sound of your heart pumping blood through your body. And when that clock ticks...down I'm going to have to feed on you. And you want to know what's worse? I'm not going to be able to stop."

I gave a Elena a worried glance but she kept her hard stare on Stefan determined not give up on him. " I don't believe that! You can fight it. You just have to want it bad enough."

He looked at her as if he was broken. "Why because I love you?"

Tears rolled down my sister's cheeks as she spoke to him, "Yeah! That's right Stefan, because you love me! I know you wouldn't hurt me or Mel! You'll fight because after everything we've been through, you owe me that!"

I saw the love that was coming from both of them, and I knew immediately that these two still cared for each other despite everything that has happened.

"You know what, you're right. You're right. I owe you everything. Because through all this, you are the one thing that has kept me from giving up, from turning it all off. But I can't help what I am, Elena. The more blood that I get, the more I want and if I get so much as near yours...you are dead." He told her with a painful look.

* * *

I looked at the clock and it was down to a few seconds. The tension in the room was high and we all felt it.

Elena then took a a hold of my hand.

Stefan was pacing back and fourth and his breathing was getting heavy. "You guys have to run."

"But Klaus said that if we run-" Elena tried to explain to Stefan.

"I know what he said, if you guys stay here it won't matter." He told us, his panicking getting worse. "Please, please, pleas. There's no other way."

"There is another way Stefan. It's for you to fight." She told him just as the buzzer went off. "Stefan I love you. Fight. Don't give up.

Stefan face changed causing Elena and I to get scared. " I can't hold it!" He dropped to the ground trying to fight himself. "Run! Elena, Mel! Run!"

Elena pulled on my hand, and we ran as fast as we could from the gym.

She then turned to me. "Go! Run to the house and get out of here!"

Was she insane? "What?! I can't just leave you-" But she was quick to stop me.

"Listen to me, he's mostly gonna chase after me. This is your shot to get out! I'll be fine but I have to know you'll be unharmed from this!" I tried to argue with her but she only interrupted me again. "Don't argue back with me I'm your older sister so listen to what I'm saying to you. Go home and see if you can get help! Now!" She told me before she took off running towards the other end of the hall.

With that I quickly tried to find a away out to make it home to call for help. If only I brought my cellphone with me tonight. Damn it. Would of made things more easier.

* * *

As soon as I got home I called out Jeremy's name and Alaric's but nobody was answering. Damn it where was everybody tonight?!

I quickly went upstairs to get my cellphone. I was about to dial Damon's number when my phone started ringing.

It was Damon! Thank God someone was finally answering.

"Damon! Where are you! Elena-" I started to tell him.

"I know, I know I have her. She's fine don't worry about her." He said trying to calm me down.

"Oh thank God. I was really worried, please promise you'll watch over her tonight?" I asked him.

"I promise, now get some sleep Mel you need it after tonight." He told me before sighing.

"Damon, where were you tonight? Elena really needed you." I asked curious to were he was. He was always there for Elena, especially since they bonded over the summer.

"I needed some time to myself. I know that I shouldn't have left, but I had my reason I'll explain tomorrow. Now get some sleep." He said clearly not wanting to get into depth about it.

"Alright night, Damon." I told him gently.

"Night baby Gilbert." he said then hung up the phone.

After that I got ready for bed, finally feeling better that I knew my sister was safe and sound. I then let sleep take me away to a place were I dreamt about a certain blonde and her ocean blue eyes.


	2. Chapter 2: This seat available?

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. I only own my OC Melanie Gilbert.**

**A/N:** Hey guys! Here's chapter 2! I'm having so much fun writing this story! I just wanted to say thanks for those who favorited this story it means a lot to me! :)

Anyways reviews are welcomed :)

* * *

_"Don't make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up."_  
_Thomas J. Watson_

**_ Chapter 2: This seat available?_**

Well here it was.

The first day of school.

I could see the welcome back sign that was hanging in front of the school. For some reason it just didn't feel the same as last year. Maybe it was the fact that last year we had no acknowledgement that the supernatural even existed, but then again who knows right? All I knew was that I wanted to get this day over with as soon as possible.

I could tell I wasn't the only one having mixed emotions about today. I could see it on Bonnie, Caroline, and Elena's faces as well.

Caroline sighed with her hands on her hips. "Here we are senior year."

I coughed and then raised my hand. "Junior year for me."

Caroline just stuck her tongue at me playfully.

Bonnie then looked over at us. "Anyone else think it should feel slightly more empowering?"

"Yup." I told her as I put my hair in a bun.

"Ok. So prank night was a bust. But we are accepting it, and we are moving on." Caroline told us firmly.

Bonnie nodded as we all walked up towards the school. "You're right. I mean why should I let the fact that my boyfriend is seeing the ghost of his dead girlfriends hinder my experience."

I frowned when I heard her say this.

Dang it Jeremy. He really needed to stop doing that to her. Poor Bonnie.

"Yes! And why should I let the fact that my boyfriend was turned into a hybrid put a damper on a otherwise fabulous day." Caroline told us trying to sound optimistic.

Oh wow. I never actually considered speaking about all of our problems out loud, but hearing them does actually make me wonder how insane's our lives have become.

"Today's our anniversary." Elena whispered to us, making us stop from our walking. "Technically, Stefan and I met on the first day of school."

I quickly went over to her to give her a side hug.

Caroline gave her a sad look. "Yeah. You win."

"Are you sure you want to be here, Lena?" I asked concerned about her.

She nodded. "I have to be here. I have to put it behind me. New year. New life." She then looked over to us before she began walking to the school in confidence.

Bonnie, Caroline, and I just looked at her proud that she was strong enough to handle it. We gave each a smile before we continued are walking catching up to my sister.

* * *

Elena and I were walking to our lockers, which happened to be right next to each other.

"Hey, so you liking your class schedule this year?" I asked as I was trying to get through the crowded hallway.

"Yeah, the first class I have is Ap American history with Ric." She told me smiling, "Did you end up getting that class as well?"

I became instantly happy, "Yup! Even though it's a senior class, my counselor told me I could take it since I did so well last year."

Elena turned and smile at me., "That's great! You know sometimes I wonder why you're still in high school when you should be in college already."

I just shook my head at her. "Nah I'm not that smart. Plus I'm not ready to go to college yet. How about I survive high school first."

She just laughed as we made it to our lockers.

Her cell phone then started to ring. "Hey, are you checking up on me? Because I'm fine." She said as she answered the call.

I'm guessing she was talking to Damon. Since he always tended to call to check up on her.

I opened my locker, taking off my jacket putting it in there. After that I took out my french and AP word history book.

"Rebekah?" I then heard my sister say her name instantly catching my attention. "She's living with you now? why?"

_Say what?_ Why was Rebekah at the boarding house with Damon anyways? Why wasn't she with Klaus?

I heard my sister say something about Stefan. "What about Stefan? What is he up to?"

I then heard her sigh. "Come on Damon, I can handle it. What?"

She then became mad when he wouldn't answer her question. "Damon!" I'm guessing he hung up since my sister now had a glare that was directly aimed at the cell phone.

"What he say Lena?" I asked her with curiosity.

She took a deep breath. "Just that Rebekah has decided to move in with them because Klaus left her here." She said as she closed her locker. "As for Stefan, I don't know he hung up before he told me anything."

I nodded my head at her. "Okay. But why did Klaus leave Rebekah here...alone?."

Elena just shrugged her shoulders. "She got left here after Klaus got frightened when Damon named dropped Mikael."

"So he's afraid of him?" Now that seemed interesting indeed. Maybe we finally found something we could use against him.

My sister just nodded my head at me.

We then left our lockers and turned around to see Caroline hang up a flyer about the bonfire that was happening to night on the wall.

Elena sighed. "Oh, I forgot about the bonfire."

Caroline looked at her with an surprised expression. "You have to go! It's our first spirit squad event. And it sets the bar for the whole new year." She then turned to look at me. "And don't you dare make up an excuse that you can't go Mel!" She said warning me in advance. Damn there goes my ticket out of this.

Elena just laughed. "Relax Caroline, I'l be there." She then looked me before giving me a side hug. "I mean we'll both be there right Mel?"

I just rolled my eyes at them. "Yeah yeah, I'll go." I wasn't really one for parties. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that every time we had one, somebody always ends up getting hurt. Or maybe it was because I hated loud obnoxious music. Yeah I'm going for the second answer. I'm also not fond of big cowards. I like to have my personal space. But I did want to try to have fun this year, so I'll go for my sister and friends.

Caroline smiled. "Thank you, it's just that-"

All of a sudden Tyler came up to her and gave her a kiss.

"Ummm hello? PDA much?" I told him waving my hands. _Ugh. _

Tyler then ended the kiss and looked at us. "Happy first day ladies!"

I noticed a red stain on his shirt. I frowned. "Is that blood?" Did he snack on someone before coming to school...

Caroline then hissed at him. "Oh my God." She caught his wrist dragging him bathroom with Elena and I following behind.

Elena and I checked the stalls to see if they were empty. After making sure they were clear we gave Caroline a nod.

Tyler furrowed his eyebrows. "What's going on?"

Caroline smacked his shoulder. "Vampire 101, don't wear your breakfast to school!"

"Chill out! It was just a blood bag." Tyler told her with a huff.

Caroline didn't looked convinced. "From where?"

He just shrugged nonchalantly. "Rebekah hooked me up."

"What?" I asked turning towards him. "Rebekah?" Now she was friendly with Tyler?

Caroline gave gim a glare. "Rebekah? And why are you even talking to her?"

I thought that to myself as well...

"Klaus, told her to keep a watch on me. Protect his new asset." Tyler told her.

Caroline looked even more pissed off. "His what?! Why are you amused by this?"

"I'm his first successful hybrid Caroline! Don't you think that's the tiniest bit awesome." Tyler gushed at her with a smile on his face.

"Oh wow! I cannot believe you just said that!" Caroline's eyes filled with anger.

Yeah. This was getting bad and awkward real fast. I hated it when couples argued.

As if my sister sensed my discomfort she looked at Caroline. "So were going to go...Good luck."

She took a hold on my hand as we walked out of the bathroom that was filled with unresolved tension.

Just as we turned to head to our class my sister bumped into someone making her let go of my hand.

I then looked up to see who she bumped into.

My eyes widen.

Stefan...

"Hello, Elena, Melanie." He said giving us a smile but unlike his other smiles, this one seemed cold.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked her voice low as she gulped.

Stefan then opened his arms wide and gave us a fake smile. "What do you mean? I'm going back to school. Go Timberwolves!"

I looked at him with disbelief. "What? But why...?" Why would he want to come back to school? Hadn't he already experienced high school like a hundred times already?

"Klaus wants me to keep an eye on your older sister. I'm just doing what I'm told." Stefan shrugged at us.

"Come on, Lena let's go." I took a hold of her wrist but was stopped by Stefan.

"Oh ah, class is this way." He told her grabbing onto my sister's arm.

She suddenly became mad. "Let go of me, Stefan."

He stood tall. "Do you think I want to be a senior for the 100th time? No, I don't have a choice in the matter. Neither do you."

"Let go of her!" I hissed at him.

Stefan just looked at me with a smirk when all of a sudden I heard someone else behind Elena and I.

"Let her go." Alaric approached us taking a protective stance.

Stefan then dropped Elena's hand before pushing Alaric into the lockers.

"Don't! Stop it! Elena hissed at Stefan.

"You're not gonna want to get in my way. You hear me?" Stefan told Alaric with a threatening voice. "I will see you three in history." He said as he let go of Alaric giving us a sick sweet smile before walking away.

Oh so he's in our history class? This day was just getting better and better...not.

* * *

As soon as we were in Alaric's classroom he immediately began asking us why Stefan was back in school.

"He told us it was because Klaus compelled him to watch over Lena." I told him shifting my right foot back and fourth.

Elena nodded her head and replied. "Yeah apparently, I'm one of Klaus's assets now that my blood is the only way to create a hybrid."

Alaric just looked dumbfounded at us. "So what? He's your bodyguard?"

"Bodyguard or not he's not the same old Stefan we know." I said with a serious voice.

I then heard the bell ring.

"Look him being here is not good for any of us. We have to do something." My sister told him before taking her seat as soon as the classroom started to get full with students.

I took a seat in the front while Elena took a seat behind me to the right.

I smiled as I saw Caroline and Bonnie walk in taking a seat behind me.

My smile went away when I saw Stefan walk in kicking a guy from his seat to sit next to Elena.

He just gave us a smirk as we glared at him.

Alaric then began writing on the chalk board before he turned around greeting us. "Welcome back seniors" I coughed and gave him a look before me smiled. "And junior." I gave him a thank you smile, before he continued. "Let's turn our brains back on, starting with this country's founders, the Native Americans."

As I was about to open my book but I came to a stop when I heard that accent fill in my ears like music. "What about the vikings?" Rebekah asked as she came in as everyone stared at her.

She then walked up to the seat that was next me and gave me a smile looking into my brown eyes. "This seat available?"

_Say something!_ I thought to myself. Instead of answering her though I just sat there with my mouth opened looking like a fool.

She just laughed and sat down as Alaric responded back to her question. "There's no evidence that vikings explorers actually settled in the United States. Who are you?" He asked confused since he didn't recognize her.

"My name is Rebekah Mikaelson. I'm new. And history is my new favorite subject." She said grinning while reaching for the text book that was on her desk.

I turned around in my seat and saw how everyone had a look of surprise on their faces.

Okay, so things just got a whole lot interesting now...


	3. Chapter 3: Barbie Klaus

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. I only own my OC Melanie Gilbert.**

**A/N:** Hey guys! Here's chapter 3 I had fun writing the Melanie and Rebekah's scenes in this chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it as well! Btw I'm sorry if my French is wrong I tried! :D

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_"No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever."_  
_Francois Muriac_

**_Chapter 3: Barbie Klaus_**

Well after the whole history fiasco was finally over. Which I was glad for, I started to feel relaxed. The whole time I was in there was incredibly awkward because of the tension that was filled in that room. My sister and friends were staring at Rebekah with full on glares. Which she responded by smirking at them except for my sister she reversed a special glare for her.

I could tell Rebekah didn't like her at all. That made me wonder why she hated her so much. She barely knew her at all. I was trying to come up with a reason as to why but couldn't come up with any answers. Also why would she pick the same class we were all in? Was it just to keep an eye on Stefan?

Then again Stefan didn't need a body guard, he was in total ripper mode right now. Especially since I saw the surprised look on his face when Rebekah walked into class, I guess even he didn't know she was gonna show up to our school. Maybe she wanted to keep an eye on all of us. Whatever the reason was my sister was not liking it at all. I could immediately tell you that. She full on warned me to stay away from her after class was over. I believe her words were_ 'She's dangerous just like Klaus, don't be fooled.'_ Which after witnessing what happened on senior prank night I had to believe her. I mean she was as evil as her brother right? Still though there was something about the blonde original vampire that had me intrigued. I just couldn't stop thinking about her.

Shaking my head of these unwanted thoughts I began walking to my next class which was French class.

Finally a class that would be away from the whole vampire drama 101 that is my life. I've been wanting to take French since freshmen year but my class schedule had always been full with other classes. This year though I managed to fit in French in which I was glad for. I wanted to learn the language that way whenever I went to France (which I hoped for in the future.) I would be able to speak it fluently. Nobody in my family knows that one of my dreams is for me to travel around the world and the first place I would like to visit would be France. Except with all the problems that my family and friends face with the supernatural who knows if I'll ever be able to go. Hell who even knows if I'll ever leave Mystic Falls. Maybe one day all these problems will just go away...One could only wish though. Right?

Life use to be so simple. I remember when my only problem was if I was fitting in with others. Ever since I learned about the existence of vampires though nothing ever came to be easy except for the pain and loss. I've lost so many loved ones. My parents, Jenna, and even my uncle John. Who I admit sometimes was an ass, but definitely had his moments, were now all gone. The only family I had left was my older sister Elena and my older brother Jeremy. Alaric over the summer became are legal guardian, which I was thankful for. I know he wasn't the greatest role model but he tried and he cared about us which was all that mattered. He was the closest thing I had to a father figure since my real father passed away alongside with my mother in the car crash over Wickerybridge.

Losing them was hard, and I never in my life felt so much pain. I didn't speak to anyone for months, my aunt Jenna and older siblings were so worried for me. They tried everything to get me to open up to them again but nothing worked. It wasn't until one morning when Elena finally confronted me and broke down in tears saying she couldn't stand seeing me in that kind of depressed state anymore. She had always thought I blamed her for our parents dying, but that wasn't true I never blamed her. I know it wasn't her fault, it was just a terrible accident. So when I saw the pain my sister was in because she thought I hated her, it made me realize she needed me like I needed her and that was what made me speak up again. I remember what I had told her,_ "Don't cry Lena, it's not your fault."_ After she heard me say that she immediately brought me into a hug crying on my shoulder again only this time her tears were from relief that I didn't hate her and that I was finally speaking again.

A lot had happened in our lives, and it's made me realize how important family really is. With everything we've been through it had brought us closer. Still it makes me wonder if our lives would always be like this. Will I ever be able to live a normal life like I had before? I guess I'll find out along the way. Just as along as I had my family I would be alright.

Turning the corner I finally made it to my french class. Walking in I noticed there was still a few spots empty, some in the back and in the front. I walked towards the desks in the front taking a seat p there. If there's one thing I've learned about high school is that normally the students who sit in the back don't really pay attention and I definitely need to pay attention in this class. More for myself than the grade.

I grabbed my backpack and took out my textbook, notebook, and pencil. Always come prepared I told myself several times over the years.

I began doodling on my notebook paper. It wasn't anything fancy, just a flower.

I heard someone take a seat next to me but didn't pay much attention to them as I continued to focus on my doodle.

"Ohhh, that's a pretty flower." The accent that I had heard before filled my ears once again.

I turned my head so quick I'm surprised I didn't get whiplash. There she was again sitting next to me. Did she have all my classes with me?

She had the same smirk she had in history class only this time it was directly aimed at me and no one else. Crap she wouldn't try anything on me during class would she?

As if she heard what I was thinking her smirk went away and a frown replaced it instead." You can Relax Melanie, I'm not gonna hurt you."

I looked around the class and made sure no one was listening in on us before I turned back to her. "You're not?" I asked surprised. I honestly thought she would of tried something. Had I been wrong to assume she would?

She then rolled her eyes at me. "Of course not, how dumb do you think I would be to try something in front of so many people. I'm not stupid. If I would to hurt you I would do it somewhere else where were it was private."

Okay never mind she was-

"Besides, why would I want to hurt you, I like you and you don't exactly annoy me like the rest of your friends." She said while she was examining her nails nonchalantly.

Wait what? Did she just say that? I was left speechless for a few minutes.

I guess she didn't exactly like the silence since she sighed impatiently and looked at me giving me a look that said _'Don't just sit there say something'_ I'm guessing she was a very impatient girl.

"Umm, can I ask why that is exactly?" I asked her nervously playing with my pencil.

She sighed. "Well out of all your friends, you're the only who hasn't been giving me the stink eye. Which I appreciate by the way, I can't stand when people look at me that way, and like I said you don't exactly annoy me. You're tolerable to be around." She finished as if it were the most obvious answer.

I'm tolerable? I haven't been called that before. I guess that should be taken as a compliment right? As for the glaring, that was true I was the only one who hasn't been giving her the death glare.

"Thanks...I guess. I've never been called tolerable before." I said turning to look at her.

She broke into a smile instead of a smirk. "You're quite welcome. So, French huh? I didn't take you as being interested in a different language."

So she thought of me? For some reason that made me blush. "Umm, well I really want to learn the language."

"You planning on going to France?" She asked intrigued.

For some reason she had me telling her about my life dream about going to France. I don't even know why I told her, it just there was something about her that made me feel comfortable enough to tell her. This is nuts! I don't even know the girl that well and I already told her about one of my life dreams! Not even my family knows about that. What's wrong with me?

As if she sensed my panic she gave me a small smile. "Relax I won't tell anyone about this conversation. Your secret dream is safe with me." She finished with a wink.

I was left shocked. Did she really mean that? "Thank you..." I told her giving her a smile as well.

I kept looking into her blue eyes...Those eyes were just so blue.

I immediately looked away embarrassed. I could hear her laughing. God, I'm such a idiot. Why is it every time she's around I act like this?

"You should go to France." She said randomly making me turn to look at her again.

"What?" I asked confused with her random outburst.

"I said you should go to France. Don't let this small town hold you back, your human which means your life is short and you should live it to the fullest." She said with a serious voice. "I can tell you want to go. Besides, I think you would like it."

"You've been there?" I could tell she had, her voice sounded full of experience. Besides she's lived for 1,000 years of course she's been everywhere. What better way to pass time than to travel?

"It's a beautiful country, but of course things have probably changed since the last time I was there. I'm sure its just as wonderful though." She said flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. "You should just leave this town."

I nodded my head at her. "Oh yeah I'll just get up and leave my family alone to deal with this vampire crap on there own, while I'll have fun in France." Sarcasm filing my voice. Was she insane? I couldn't just leave my family especially with everything that was going on.

"Relax Melanie, it was just a suggestion." She then rolled her eyes."Anyways, I know you wouldn't leave your darling older sister behind."

I decided to ask her the daring question that had been on my mind since history class. "Why do you hate my sister so much? You barely know her."

Rebekah just scoffed. "I may not know her personally, but I know about her. She reminds me of someone I used to know that I disliked very much."

Wait a minute did she mean...

"Wait someone you use to know? You mean the original doppelganger?"

Rebekah just nodded her head and grimaced. "Yes Tatia, that wench."

"Look just because my sister looks like her doesn't mean that she is her." I tried reasoning with her.

She just laughed a humorless laugh. "Oh trust me they have a lot of the same qualities, just like Katherine."

"My sister is nothing like Katherine!" I hissed at her.

She looked taken back my raised voice before she composed herself. "Hmm I see that I struck a nerve. Fine then I won't talk about them anymore. Besides I don't us fighting over some stupid doppelganger drama."

I looked away from her and focused on my textbook. I was trying to ignore her but apparently she didn't like that since she kept making exaggerated sighs. "So..." Another sigh. "So..." Yet again another sigh. "So..."

"What?" I said turning to face her, annoyed by her sighing.

She just gave me an innocent smile. "You going to the bonfire tonight?"

"Yeah, why? Are you?" I asked her raising my eyebrows.

Her smile got even more bigger. "I am now."

Wait was she just going because I was? I was about to ask her that question when the teacher walked in.

"Bonne classe de jour! bienvenue à 101 français" She said with a full french accent.

Rebekah responded back to her. "Bonjour à vous professeur"

Oh wow her french sounded so perfect. Why was she taking this class again?

The teacher just smiled at her. "Oh vous savez français! comment merveilleux."

"Oui! Je espère que vous me enseignez plus ainsi." Rebekah told her with a grin.

The teacher just nodded at her. "Ne vous inquiétez pas, je vais vous et chacun français appropriées d'autre enseigne." She then walked over to her desk to get the class started.

Okay I seriously needed to learn this language fast. I hated not knowing what they were talking about.

I turned to Rebekah. "Why are you taking this class when you clearly know the language already? Isn't it going to be boring for you?"

She just gave me a non-chanted look. "Because I can, and you're in this class so it won't be as boring."

I just blushed and looked at the front of the class. What is it with this girl? She compliments me, then we argue, then she compliments me again?

The rest of the class went by fast I ignored to make conversation with her and just focused on what the teacher was saying. When I heard the bell ring I made a bee line for the door when I felt a hand grab my elbow.

I turned to see that it was Rebekah who had stopped me. "Don't forget about the bonfire. I'll see ya tonight." She told me with a smile before leaving the room.

The bonfire? Damn... Well I guess I needed to tell Elena about this. I had a feeling she wasn't going to like this one bit.

I gulped and walked out to find my big sister, already expecting to be lectured by her. Could this day get anymore better?

My guess would be no...


	4. Chapter 4: You want to be my what?

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of it's characters. I only own my OC Melanie Gilbert.**

Check out my profile for images of Melanie.

For those who have asked who I picture as Melanie just think of Hailee Steinfeld :)

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_"The greatest sweetener of human life is friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover."_  
_Joseph Addison_

**_Chapter 4: You want to be my what?_**

Okay so maybe telling Elena about what happened in French class wasn't exactly a smart thing to do. I mean if I knew she was going to freak out this bad, then I probably wouldn't have said nothing at all.

"What do you mean she was in your class? Did she try to do something? Are you okay?" My sister kept asking me her frequent questions.

"Elena!" I yelled as I grabbed onto her shoulders. "Calm down with the question, alright?" I took a deep breath as I let go of her shoulders. "But yes, she was in my class I don't know exactly why but she didn't do anything, I'm okay."

She let out a deep breath that she was probably holding.

"That still doesn't explain why she suddenly wanted to talk to you."

"Uh well..." I scratched the back of my neck. "She said it was because I was the only one who wasn't treating her bad or something like that..."

My sister stared at me with astonished eyes. "What? She said that?"

"Something along the lines of that..." I shrugged my shoulders. "She also kinda of uh mentioned the bonfire..."

"What about the bonfire?" She urged on.

"You know just if I was going or not." I answered her looking around the classroom we were in trying anything to avoid her gaze.

"She asked if you were going? Why would she ask that?" I could tell her voice had absolute confusion and concern as well. "What exactly did you tell her?"

"I told her that I was going." I answered her and saw the look of disappoint on her face. "What was I suppose to say, Lena? That I wasn't? She would of known I was lying."

"It's not that, Mel." She said shaking her head. "I just don't like the fact that she's around you. She can seriously hurt you...or worse."

I looked at her face and saw her eyes that were completely filled with worry. I suddenly felt bad for causing such feeling, she already had enough to deal with, the last thing she needed was to be worrying over me.

"Listen Lena, I'll be fine okay? So don't you go all mother hen on me." I told her because I knew exactly how she can get whenever she was looking out for me. Sometimes I felt like she was more of a mother than a sister.

"Just promise me you'll try to keep distance from her alright?" She said her brown eyes locking onto mine.

Try to keep my distance? I would try but deep down I knew that was going to be a problem. For my sister's sake though I would make that promise...

So instead of answering I just gave her a small nod, with hope that she would take that as answer because I didn't know if I was able to give her a solid yes out loud.

Seeing her smile made me feel relief in the instead letting me know she accepted the nod.

"So listen uh I gotta go now Caroline's expecting me to take some shots for the yearbook." I said grabbing my backpack making my way towards the door as I was trying to get out of the class room already.

"Wait yearbook? Since when are you in the year book committee?" She asked me her eyes held a slight gleam replacing the concern it had before.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Oh you know I wanted to find a hobby, besides Caroline kept bugging me to join the staff with her."

Elena gave me a laugh. "Well Caroline did always want you more involved with school, plus you do have a talent for photography."

"Well I should go now before Caroline send's a search party for me." I replied back to her, opening the door.

"Yeah I'll see you later alright?" My sister said as she gave me a small wave.

I returned the wave and walked out. As soon as the door closed shut I leaned against it and closed my eyes. I kept thinking about the promise I had made to Elena, hoping that I would be able to keep it for her. Though for some reason I had a feeling that I wasn't going to be able to...

* * *

The sun was really bright today and it was shining down on all of us as we were outside in the field. I was currently watching Caroline give instructions to the cheerleaders as they were doing their dance routines. I kept taking pictures every now and then waiting for the perfect moment to catch a good photo, though to be honest I was pretty sure all the photos I had of them were perfection. I glanced over to the football field and took a quick photo of the football players practicing immediately turning my attention back to the cheerleaders. There was just something about them that made it much more interesting to watch than the football players, maybe it was because they were more coordinated with their routines or maybe it was because I was more into women's sports. Whatever the reason was I never really questioned it, for I was afraid to know the real reason behind it.

"So what do you think?" Caroline asked me after they finished there routine.

I adjusted the camera around my neck and walked over to her. "I really liked the choreography. I got some good shots for the year book."

"Well I certainty hope you got my good side." Caroline said smiling at me.

"Caroline, what side isn't your good side?" I scoffed at her grinning.

"Well thanks Mel, aren't you so full with flattery." Caroline said as she started stretching her arms.

"That's me the flattering type." I told her as I watched the rest of the team stretch. "In all honesty, y-you guys were amazing." I said stammering for some odd reason, watching them all stretched out made me get a warm feeling in my stomach, but like always when ever I got this feeling I immediately pushed it far away. I couldn't feel that way.

"Thanks." Caroline said giving me a full on bright smile. "It took me forever to come up with the moves but I think it came out great."

"Yeah totally." I mumbled. _Really great._

"Hey has anyone seen, Dana?" A tall dark skinned girl suddenly asked.

Caroline was about to answer her before a velvety British accent interrupted her.

"Sounds like you have an opening on the squad." Rebekah said as she approached us I noticed how she was wearing tiny black shorts and a tight fitting tank top.

Her clothing for some reason was making that annoying fluttering feeling appear again in my stomach. I tried making it go away but it was harder this time, so I moved closer to Caroline trying to put some distance between me and the original blonde vampire.

"Hey! Hey!" Caroline hissed at her. "You can't just come here and infiltrate all of our lives."

Rebekah just rolled her eyes at her as she stood up from her stretching. "I'm only interested in yours." She said giving her a smirk. "Your spunk your popularity." Her gaze then moved over to where Tyler was running on the football field. "Maybe even your boyfriend." She finished telling Caroline before giving me a wink as she walked away, leaving a very pissed off Caroline.

The sound of the whistle caught our attention.

"Hit the showers gentlemen!" I heard the football coach yell.

"Wait isn't football practice not suppose to be over until an hour from now?" I asked Caroline completely confused as everyone else was already leaving the field.

"It is." Caroline replied back equally confused as well.

We looked over to where the coach was standing and saw how Tyler was standing in front of him and saw the look of trance the coach had as he walked away.

"Did he just?" I asked Caroline completely baffled.

"Yeah, I think he did." Caroline answered me to what we were both thinking.

We both walked over to where Tyler was with Caroline confronting him instantly. "Try to be a little more subtle Tyler."

"Coming from the queen of subtlety?" Tyler scoffed at her. "Relax. I'm in total control."

"Yeah, that's kinda hard to believe by the way you're acting." I said crossing my arms over my chest.

"She's right Tyler, why are you acting like this?" Caroline asked him.

"Both of you just drop it alright? I'm fine, I've never been better." He said as he gave us both pointed looks. "Klaus has given me this gift."

"Gift? What are you talking about?" I asked him harshly.

"Yeah what gift?" Caroline hissed at him.

"Hey! Check out the new girl!" A guys voice interrupted the conversation we were having making us face towards the other side of the field. I saw how Rebekah was doing this amazing gymnastics routine ending it with the splits making all us especially me stare in disbelief and wonder.

"What in the world..." I murmured.

Caroline seemed more mad then impressed since Rebekah was giving her a smug smile from across the field. "My God." She snarled.

"Damn girl's got moves." He said smirking as he walked off to the locker rooms.

Caroline gave Rebekah one last glare before walking off with me quickly following her.

Tyler's comment though was still replaying over in my head...

_Yeah she's got moves..._

* * *

So Elena, Caroline Damon, Alaric, and I were now in Alaric's classroom trying to come with a way to capture Stefan. After a few minutes with coming up with ideas, Elena managed to come up with one that might be able to work.

"I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire, then when he's distracted-" She began discussing her plan again to us.

"I'll shoot him." Alaric ended her sentence.

"Can't Bonnie just ju-ju him or something?" Damon asked from where he was leaning against the wall.

"Uh no she can't." I spoke up taking a seat in the front.

"Yeah, we're keeping Bonnie out of this. We can't be sure that Stefan won't hurt her." Elena said agreeing with me before looking over at Caroline. "Caroline are you covered?"

She nodded her head and gave us a reassured smile. "Yes! I will make sure that the old Forbes jail cell is prepped and ready."

"We're forgetting a key player here." Damn spoke up from his spot. "Rebekah? Wherever Stefan goes the blonde ponytail seems to follow."

My sister turned around to face Damon. "Which is why it's your job to keep her away."

"How is he suppose to do that exactly?" I asked wondering how in the world Damon was going to keep an original vampire busy.

"Mel's right how am I gonna do that? She's an original, last time I checked we're out of daggers." Damon informed my sister.

Elena just shrugged her shoulders. "So then preoccupy her with your charm."

"Might have better luck finding the dagger." Alaric scoffed with me trying to fight my laughter.

"Not funny, baby Gilbert." Damon said giving me a small glare before turning to look at Alaric. "Are you ever not going to be mad at for a day?"

"Doubtful." Alaric answered him shortly.

I then looked over to Elena and gave her a look, making her eyes widen realizing the idea I was having.

"Oh no don't think about it Mel!" She said with a voice full of authority. "You promised remember?"

"I know I did but Lena, this could work!" I cried out.

"What could work?" Caroline asked us, as Elena and I were having a stare off.

"No Mel, it's not safe." She said crossing her arms letting me know she meant business but I continued anyway.

"Elena, I won't be alone, you guys will be there to make sure everything's fine." I urged on, I knew this could work.

"Anybody gonna tell me what you two are talking about?" Damon asked impatiently.

I turned to him."I could help you distract Rebekah."

"You?" He asked in disbelief. "Mel, how in the world are you going to-"

"She already tried talking to me before! In class it was almost like she wanted to get to know me..."

"So you're saying she wants to what? Be your _friend_?" Damon asked me.

"What I'm saying is that it'll be a whole lot more easier if I was there with you." I simply stated.

I could tell Damon was seriously thinking about this as well as Alaric.

Elena had a look of concern once again, while Caroline had a look of confusion not knowing what to think about this.

Damon sighed. "Well if you're so sure you can help., then why not?"

"Damon!" Elena yelled at him. "You can't let her do this!"

"It's her choice Elena." He said giving her a hard look. "Besides aren't you one to respect people's choices."

That left Elena with a shocked face taken back by his response.

"Lena, I'll be fine you guys will be there plus Damon has my back." I said walking over to her giving her a side hug.

"I still don't like you doing this." She admitted to me.

"I know you don't, but if it'll help capture Stefan we gotta take that chance alright?" I said to her leaning against her.

She merely nodded her head.

"So we good?" Alaric asked us unsure of the situation before Elena and I both gave him an answer of yes.

"Sorry I'm late." Tyler said as in walked in. "What's going on?"

I leaned away from Elena as we looked forward towards Tyler. "We need to you raid your mom's vervain supply, enough to keep Stefan down for a while."

"You can't do that to Stefan." Tyler said shaking his head.

We looked at him confused as to why he was disagreeing with us.

"Why not?" Caroline asked him.

"Trust me Tyler, it's for his best interest." Elena told him firmly.

"It's not in Klaus'." He stated back to her.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him, why was he saying this?

"But Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler." Caroline looked at him, I could see her patience wearing thin on her face. "You know why are acting like some freaky, hybrid, slave minion!"

"Uh-oh." I heard Damon say from behind me.

Alaric looked at him alarmed. "What?"

Tyler looked over at his girlfriend. "Klaus made me who I am, Caroline. I owe him everything."

"Oh boy." Damon muttered as he walked over closer to the desk.

Caroline then turned to face Damon. "Okay?! Can we cool it on the commentary, please."

"What is going on?" Elena asked Damon as soon we both saw him reach for a vervain dart on the desk. What is going to do?

Tyler eyed Damon as he began walking towards the door. "I'm just going to go."

Damon all of sudden rushed towards Tyler back and shoved the vervain dart in his neck knocking him out instantly.

"What are you doing?!" Caroline snapped at Damon.

Wow okay I did not expect that to happen...

"He's been sired." Damon told us unaffected by Caroline's temper.

Alaric just gave him am confused expression. "What?"

Damon looked over to us. "He's sired, he feels loyal to Klaus because Klaus's blood created him."

"What exactly does that mean? Loyal like how?" I asked him intrigued by the new discovery.

Damon looked back down to Tyler who was passed out.

"He'll seek acceptance from his master. It's really rare. Maybe not so much on hybrids though."

Caroline looked up to Damon from where she was checking on Tyler. "So how do I fix him?"

"Get a new boyfriend." Damon replied bluntly.

Caroline looked down at her boyfriend with an unreadable expression.

"Not exactly the answer she was looking for Damon." I mumbled out loud with Damon just giving me a smirk in return.

* * *

Later on that night we were all at the bonfire which was now on full swing. Looking around the woods I noticed everyone was enjoying the music and were either drinking or dancing. In all honesty party's were never my thing but having friends who were into them made going to these so called events bearable. Not to mention we needed to go through this plan in order to capture Stefan.

So in order to fit in with the whole party scenery and not seem suspicious I decided to go find something to drink. I mean after all party's were meant for teenagers to drink alcohol right?

It took me a few minutes but I was finally able to find a keg stand.

I was about to serve myself a drink when someone beat me to it taking a frontal stance.

Startled I looked up to see who the perpetrator was, not at all surprised to see the blonde original.

"I finally found you." She said standing in front of the keg stand. "I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up."

"Here I am." I said trying to sound casual. "I did say I was coming right?"

"That you did." She replied smiling at me.

Looking at her I noticed her change of clothing. She was wearing a hot pink blouse with black shorts, all in all she looked like a regular teenager. That didn't make me forget about the fact that she was thousand year old vampire.

"So," I uttered trying to start up a conversation with her. "How you liking the bonfire so far."

"Well now that you're here I think it got better." She admitted to me. "Although it's not quite like I expected."

"What you'd expect?" I said scoffing. "It's just like any other party you'd probably been too."

She gave me an unreadable expression as she looked away to stare into the crowd of teenagers that were dancing. Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head.

"Wait, you have been to parties before right?" I said looking at her in shock. She's a thousand year old vampire of course she had to of gone to tons of party's. Her ignoring the question though suddenly made me doubt that.

She suddenly turned to face me again her expression hard and cold.

"It's hard to attend these so called 'parties when you're daggered in a box for about ninety years or so."

Oh that's right...

Klaus had her daggered and had barely allowed her to wake up into this new century, meaning she probably missed out on a lot of things over the years. High school party's being one of them.

"I'm sorry," I said giving her a soft expression. "I forgot that you're new to all of this." I opened my arms wide as I spread them around indicating the whole high school lifestyle. I lowered my arms and gave her a smile. "It's not that hard though."

"Really?" She asked me with her blue eyes brightening up as her face did too.

"Yeah, it's kinda like an ocean's wave you just go with the flow." I told her trying to make a wave motion with my hand failing miserably.

She quirked her eyebrows stifling a laugh.

I blushed and put my hand down. "Okay so uh never mind the ridiculous hand motion, just um do whatever comes naturally to you."

"Alright." She told me turning around to face the keg. "I feel like having a drink."

I nodded my head and watched as she was having trouble trying to serve herself a drink.

She looked at me with a pout on her face.

I gave her a smile as I was about to help her, but a hand suddenly took the nozzle away from her hands.

When I turned around to see who took it I came face to face with Stefan.

"You alright there?" He asked Rebekah as he turned to me smirking. "Didn't peg you for a drinker Mel."

My only answer to him was a glare as I tried really hard not to snap at him.

"Thanks for the interruption." Rebekah huffed at Stefan and then looked towards the crowd again. "I thought Tyler was going to be here."

Wait? What?! She's looking for Tyler...

I suddenly felt that pit feeling in my stomach again.

Stefan began filling up Rebekah's cup. "You're into Tyler now huh? That's kind of fickle."

"When you're willing to give me the time of day again, then we'll talk." She told him firmly before looking at me real quick. "Until then, a girl has needs."

Time of day? Talk? Did she and Stefan have a thing in the past? Damn there goes that feeling again.

It was then I noticed my sister walking up towards us and once again I tired to act casual since this was part of the plan.

"Hello, Mel." She told me giving me a big smile as she took the nozzle from Stefan's hands. "Excuse me." She said as she began filling up her red cup with beer.

"Hi, Lena." I replied back to with a sly smile.

"Elena." Stefan stated as he looked at her. "Hi, what are you doing?"

"I'm having fun, Stefan. You got a problem with that" She replied nonchalantly as she began chugging her drink.

I gave her a whistle as she began drinking it all down.

"All right, take it easy." Stefan told her smirking. "We both know you're kind of a light weight."

"Uh-huh. Really? You think I'm going to let a blood addict tell me how to drink?" My sister scoffed at him before she walked away, leaving Stefan with a disbelief face. While Rebekah and I were left with amused faces.

* * *

"So what's your favorite thing about these festivities?" Rebekah asked me as we were now sitting next to the warm campfire that was burning. We had been talking for a while now mostly just asking each other simple question. Such as what's your favorite color? Favorite movie? So on and so on. The thing was though I enjoyed talking to her even if it just simple things like that. She was a very interesting person.

"Oh well I guess," I started thinking about what exactly I would tell her. What did I like about party's? "The fact that I'm with my friends." I told her shrugging my shoulders. "I'm not really a party girl but my friend's are so I've been to a few."

"So you only go for your friends?" She asked me softly.

"Uh yeah." I told her nodding my head.

"Is that why you came here tonight?" She said as she turned away from the campfire to look at me. "Because your friends are here."

"In short answer yes." I simply responded back to her.

She then smiled showing her perfect while teeth. "So then you consider me a friend?"

"Well I mean my sister-and um-other friends are here as well." I stammered like a fool.

"Yes, but so am I." She said grinning.

"Wait hold on." I said taking a deep breath as I was trying to control my stuttering. "Are you saying you want to be my friend?"

She rolled her eyes at me.

"I thought I made that pretty clear Melanie."

"But, why?" I asked her. My eyes probably looked like they were going to burst from my eye sockets by what she had just told me.

"Can't I just be friends with you?" She asked innocently.

I gave her a _'who you kidding look'_ before she let out a loud huffed.

"Alright fine! Let's just say I find you interesting for a human."

"Interesting? Is that suppose to be a compliment? Like when you called me tolerable?" A sudden cheekiness appeared in my voice.

"I suppose so." She replied back with smile.

My blush covered my cheeks making me look away from her with a smile on my face.

"So I'm just going to assume you've never tried a marshmallow before either?" I asked her as I saw a couple of people eating marshmallows across from us.

"You mean those fluffy white balls people are roasting?" She asked me.

"Yup those are the ones." I told her grabbing a bag of marshmallows that were next to me taking two out.

I handed her a marshmallow as I stuck mine on a stick ready to start roasting it. She saw what I did and began doing the same thing.

After a while I took mine out from the fire and started blowing on it to cool it down. Once I felt that it was cool enough I took a bite letting the deliciousness fill my mouth.

"See, it's good." I told her as I licked my fingers from the stickiness.

"I can tell." She smiled at me before she took her marshmallow from the fire looking at it with a dull expression. "Somehow though it's not that much fun when I do it."

"Nah you're just looking at it all wrong." Damon said as he took a seat next to Rebekah on the log.

"What no friends your own age?" She scoffed at him rolling her eyes.

Damon gave me a quick wink as he moved his hand to the marshmallow Rebekah had and took the top part off. "This is a little rough on the outside. But on the inside yum." He said feeding her the marshmallow.

Rebekah ate the marshmallow and closed her eyes. "Hmm it's good."

Damon gave her a flirtatious smile. "Yep."

I looked away not being able to handle the scene in front of me, ignoring that annoying feeling I had in my stomach.

"Hey, Mel why don't you bring us some crackers to make some s'mores?" Damon asked me not taking his eyes away from Rebekah.

I simply nodded my head looking away from the both of them some what feeling relived from not having to watch Damon flirt with her. That bothered me for some reason...I don't exactly know why. It wasn't the fact that Damon was flirting with her, because I didn't feel anything for Damon. I think the reason why is because he interrupted the conversation I was having with her. I mean I know the plan was to distract her but for a moment during the conversation we had together, I had completely forgotten about the plan and just thought of the two of us being normal girls at least for a little while. It felt right for some reason...

I grabbed the crackers and was about to head back when I saw from where I was standing the way Damon was whispering in Rebekah's ear. Looking away I decided that I didn't want to be there anymore. Besides she looked like she was enjoying his company...more than mine.

With that I dropped the crackers to the floor, walking away from the two of them trying really hard to ignore the ache I was feeling.

* * *

"I can not believe you were almost burnt to death!" I cried out to my sister as she was sitting on Damon's bathroom counter.

Apparently while I was trying to find them at the party, Elena and Stefan had almost burnt to death. Needless to say our plan to capture Stefan did not end up working.

Elena gave me an apologetic look before turning to look at Damon.

"Give it to me. I can do it." She protested at Damon.

"No let me do it." He insisted.

"Damon come on." Elena frowned at him when he didn't listen to her.

"Damon's right Elena let him help you." I told her as I was leaning against the bathroom wall.

"See even baby Gilbert agrees. Now hold still, you almost got barbecued. The least I can do it apply first aid." He said as he started swabbing her cheek.

Elena huffed but stayed still once he started cleaning. "You played your part of the plan well tonight."

I looked up and narrowed my eyes at Damon.

"Oh yeah?" Damon replied still focusing on cleaning her cheek.

"Yeah, you too Mel you looked like you were actually enjoying her company." She commented before looking back at Damon. "You had Rebekah drooling all over you and your marshmallows."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to forget the way the two of them were flirting together at the bonfire.

"Yeah before she skewered me." He replied back to her.

"Wait really? She did?" I asked sounding way to hopeful.

"Yeah." Damon answered me his eyes narrowed at me. "By the way where did you go? You never came back."

"Oh well I saw the way you guy's were talking so I figured you had everything under control." I said trying to sound casual, trying really hard not to fail cause if I did Damon would see right through me.

Damon just gave me a shrug making me sigh inwardly that he believed me.

"Anyways, I thought you were to drunk too drunk to notice?" He asked Elena moving his gaze away from mine and onto hers instead.

"I was faking most of it." She said looking around the bathroom, I could tell she was trying real hard not to look at him.

"So was I." Damon mumbled but I still heard him. Apparently I wasn't the only one since I saw the way my sister's face lit up hearing said news. Though she might be happy, I was for an entirely different reason, one I didn't even want to admit out loud.

"You guys ready to go?" Alaric said as he came walking in the room.

"Yeah." I said as I leaned away from the wall and walked over to where Alaric was standing.

"Great work tonight Ric. Sorry about the car, man. Bummer." Damon told him sounding heartfelt.

Alaric didn't say anything to him, instead giving him a stiff nod, as Elena hopped off the bathroom counter.

"Night, Damon." I said giving him a small wave.

"Night baby Gilbert." He said smiling, taking a drink from his glass as I saw him watch my sister leave the room.

* * *

"It's okay if you want to be friends with Damon again." Elena informed Ric as the three of us were walking towards the front door.

"I don't." Alaric replied flatly.

"She's right Ric. I think he really does miss you." I said to him before we came face to face with Stefan.

"Well you got me tonight." Stefan sighed before giving us a pointed look. "Definitely wasn't expecting that."

"That was the point." Alaric said crossing his arms.

"Yeah. You know, you guys can hate all you want, but Elena needs me." I gave him a hard look grabbing a hold of my sister's hand. "I'll always protect her. I think you three are better off having me around." He finished saying as we continued to walk towards the door.

"Elena wait." Stefan called out making me let go of her hand as she turned around to face him again.

"You could of let me die in that fire tonight." Stefan asked her. "Why didn't you?"

"Because I still have hope for you." She answered sounding completely honest with him.

"After everything I've done, you...you still think I'll be able to find my humanity again." He asked her staring into her brown eyes.

"Yes, I do. I know who you really are better than anyone, Stefan. And I'm not giving up." Elena said nodding at him.

"Elena, do you have any idea how pathetic that makes you? Stefan smirked at her making me give him a hard glare.

"No, Stefan it makes me strong." She answered him before I saw her punch him in the gut with two stakes that were immediately ejected from her sleeve, making him grunt in pain.

She walked towards Alaric and I saw her hand him back the sleeve she had hidden. Alaric and I gave Stefan one last lingering amused look before we both walked out of the Salvatore house.

"He totally had that coming." I said giving Alaric a smile.

Alaric looked at me and grinned. "Oh yeah."

* * *

**Hey guys! So thanks for those who have so far been with me in this story it really does mean a lot! If you have time please check out my other stories :) **

**Anyways hopefully the next chapter will be updated sooner! See yea my lovely readers! :D**


	5. Chapter 5: What is love?

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaires or any of it's characters. I only own my OC Melanie Gilbert.**

Check out my profile for images of Melanie.

For those who have asked who I picture as Melanie just think of Hailee Steinfeld :)

Okay so for this chapter I'm writing in **3rd POV** hope you guys enjoy it!

* * *

_"But is it what we love, or how we love, that makes true good?"_  
_George Eliot_

**_Chapter 5: What is love?_**

"As a long time-member historical society, I am especially proud to be kicking off this day of festivities. Thank you, volunteers." Carol Lockwood said, clapping as everyone else did too. "Tonight, we turn of our town's lights and flare up our lanterns in honor of the night illumination by our founders 150 years ago. Here's founding family member Tobias Fell with a history lesson." Everyone in the audience applauded as the man ran to the stage.

Meanwhile, Alaric, Jeremy and Melanie were in the crowd listening to the speech. Jeremy looked around across to Alaric with a bored expression, "What are we doing here?"

"Tobias Fell is the head of the history department," Alaric said sighing,"I didn't have a choice."

"All right that explains why you're doing here." Jeremy responded back to him.

"Well, I'm the one who can fail you and Mel, if you two don't help me out." Alaric countered back to him.

"Hey, no talking about failing alright?" Melanie huffed crossing her arms. "I'm here aren't I?"

"Yes, reluctantly." Alaric said giving her a pointed look.

"Still here." She said grinning.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Elena said as she joined them,"What did I miss?"

"You didn't miss anything." Jeremy replied with a smile and then with a laugh.

"What's got you laughing?" Melanie questioned her older brother.

Jeremy just shrugged his shoulders at his younger sister and looked forward at the stage. Melanie confused by his sudden laughter, looked at him for a few seconds before moving her attentions towards the stage as well. Her brother could sure be weird at times...

* * *

"Hey, Jer, I need you to help me with something." Elena asked handing him one of Stefan's old journals, as the group was now sitting outside the Mystic Grill.

"What's up?" Jeremy asked her.

"I've been going through Stefan's old journals." She said informing him. "Every single time that he's gone off the rails in the past his best friend Lexi been the one to bring him back."

"So where is she now that we need her?" Alaric asked her.

Melanie sighed and slumped into her seat. She knew exactly where this was headed.

"She's dead." Jeremy guessed as he looked at his older sister. "And you want me to reach her, don't you?"

Elena gave her brother a shrug. "I thought if I knew how she did it maybe I could help him."

Melanie looked at her sister with sympathetic eyes. She felt bad for her older sister...to see the person she loved now turn into a full emotionless ripper...if the situation was reserved and it was Melanie in her sister's shoes, she didn't know if she would be able to handle it. Her sister was strong...

"I don't even know if she's on the other side." Jeremy argued reasonably.

"Wait the other side? Is that what it's called?" Melanie quizzed at her older brother.

"That's what Vicki calls it." Jeremy replied back to her. "There's not like an official brochure or anything."

"So what is it? Like some sort of supernatural purgatory?" Alaric asked him.

"Well Ana, said it's like being here with all of us, only we can't see her or hear her," Jeremy explained to them, ""She's all alone."

"Vicki, could interact." Alaric frowned, "She blew up my car."

"Not to mention she almost burned Elena to death!" Melanie muttered.

Elena gave her sister a small smile patting her on the shoulder, letting her know she was fine now. Melanie returned the smile back to her, glad that her sister was alive.

"Vicki, had help from a witch on the other side," Jeremy admitted to them, "Anna...she's doing this all by herself."

"I'm just saying, maybe we learned our lesson about summoning dead people." Alaric said shrugging.

Melanie sighed and looked at her brother.

She was glad that he was alive, and she had Bonnie to thank for that. When he had gotten shot and died right in front of her she thought she was gonna die as well. It was as if time had stopped and she was living in this dark hole of nothingness. When Bonnie had told her she had brought him back from the dead she was utterly grateful she really was...but bringing Jeremy back from the dead came with a price. Since now he was able to contact and see other ghosts. So maybe Ric was right, maybe they shouldn't be messing around this ghost stuff anymore...

"Do you think it's even possible to contact, Lexi?" Elena asked Jeremy.

"Yeah, I mean I thought you could only contact people you had a emotional connection with you?" Melanie questioned her brother, as she took a sip of her lemonade.

"Yeah, so I don't know if it'll work since I've never met her." Jeremy mused.

"Can we please just drop it, please." Alaric begged from his seat.

Elena huffed and frowned. "No I can't drop it, Ric. I don't know what else to do."

"Don't you think we have a few too many dead vampires in our past, to be sitting around here thinking of them watching us?" Alaric retorted back to her, thinking about his ex-wife and the many others that have died.

Melanie turned to look at her brother only to find him staring at an empty chair, making her eyes widen. "Is Anna here right now?"

"What?" Elena exclaimed looking at her brother, "Is she?"

"No,-no," Jeremy stuttered getting up from his seat, "I'm going to go uh check my work schedule."

The trio watched his retreating figure head into the Mystic Grill.

"Something's defiantly up with him..." Melanie mumbled to them as they nodded their heads.

"Hey guys," The voice that belonged to Stefan made them become immediately stiff in their positions, "Who forgot to to invite me to the family summit?" He sat down next to Elena and picked up one of his old journals. "Hmmm? Wow all these words. I forgot how much I used to care."

Elena looked at him with sad eyes, "I didn't."

Stefan just shrugged nonchalantly at her. "You know Elena, it's probably best not to torture yourself with memories from the past. It's best we both just move on and accept things as they are."

Melanie and Alaric stared at Stefan with hard looks, while Elena had a heartbroken look.

"You don't have to be here, Stefan." Alaric told him firmly.

"Yeah, Stefan." Melanie said to him with a glare.

"You know what Alaric and Mel, you're right I don't." Stefan said returning to look at Elena. "But Elena's here and I look out for Elena."

Melanie just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Besides, there's going to be people everywhere tonight, "Stefan said smirking at them, "So there's going to be lots to eat." He then saw the shocked expressions on the three of them before he chuckled darkly, "I'm kidding, loosen up."

As soon as Stefan was gone from their sights Elena turned to face Ric with a pointed look. "I can't drop it Ric."

Melanie got up from her seat and walked towards the Grill.

"Hey, where you going?" Elena asked her

Melanie shrugged her shoulders and pointed to the building, "The bathroom, why?"

"Hold up," Elena said as she got up from her seat, "I'll go with you too."

Melanie just nodded her head and waited for her.

"I'll go grab, Jeremy." Alaric told them as he went inside to find the teenager.

The two girls then walked into the restroom only to be surprised as they both saw Anna kissing their brother.

"Anna?" Elena said out loud causing Anna and Jeremy to break apart from their lip locking. Both had startled looks on their faces.

"What the hake..." Melanie said confused. How in the world was Anna here right now...

* * *

"How do we do that?" Elena asked Caroline through the phone, as she and Melanie were staring down their brother and Anna.

"Apparently the old witch can draw power from this because of her talisman." Melanie heard Caroline reply back to her sister.

"Talisman?" Elena asked with her eyes opened, "My necklace?"

"It's some ju ju power source, and I know you're not going to like this but Bonnie needs to destroy it." Caroline stated.

Elena sighed and narrowed her eyes at Anna. "Mel and I just walked in on Jeremy kissing the reason I'm completely okay with that."

"What?!" Caroline hissed through the phone. "Are you kidding?"

"I wish, look I don't have the necklace Damon has it somewhere." Elena informed as Melanie kept staring at her brother with disbelief. "Text him, I'll call you right back."

Jeremy sighed, ready to start explaining, "Elena, Mel-"

Elena looked over at Anna with a warning look, "You need to disappear, or evaporate or what it is that you ghosts do."

"Hey, it's not her fault." Jeremy said defending Anna.

"You're right! It's yours." Elena said moving her angers towards him, the second she did though Anna immediately disappeared.

Elena shook her head at him. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know-okay?" Jeremy uttered. "I don't know it's-it's just did." He then gave his sisters a pleading look. "Please guys, just don't tell Bonnie."

Don't tell Bonnie? Melanie swallowed the lump in her throat, how can he be asking her this? Bonnie was her best friend, not to mention she was the one who brought him back! And this was the way he was repaying her? I mean he loved her right? If so why was he doing this to her? Why cause pain towards the person you love? Melanie just didn't seem to understand her brothers behavior at all...

"Don't worry I'm going to let you do that." Elena let out a deep sigh. "Right after I her send away the ghosts away." She said as she walked out the bathroom, Melanie quickly following her.

"Wait Mel!" Her brother called out for her.

Melanie turned around to face her brother with a broken face, "No Jeremy ,I'm sorry but this is a problem you're gonna have to fix yourself." She said softly leaving the bathroom to catch up with her sister.

Just as the two of them were about to turn the corner a blonde haired girl came up to them, "Looks like today was a good day to be thinking about me, Elena." Lexi said smiling at her. Melanie stared in shock taking in the sight of the 'dead vampire'.

"Lexi?" Melanie asked with an astonished voice.

"Hey, there little Gilbert." She said smiling, "Hate to break the reunion but your big sister needs to come with me." She said taking a hold of Elena's hand.

"Where?" Elena questioned her startled by her appearance.

Lexi huffed. "Ripper detox 101, crash course."

"I-"

"I'm sorry, did you not say how desperate you were for my help in saving Stefan's life?" Lexi asked her with raised eyebrows.

Elena looked towards the bathroom and gave an apprehensive huff.

"Hey, don't worry about the necklace, I'll go help Bonnie," Melanie said giving Elena a smile, "Go with Lexi, it'll be fine."

Elena gave her a thankful smile, before turning towards the blonde. "Let's go."

Melanie quickly left the Mystic Grill and made her way to the Salvatore boarding house in order to help Bonnie and Caroline find the necklace.

* * *

Melanie made it over to the boarding house and was now searching for the necklace in Damon's room. After going through everything in room the necklace was still no where to be found.

"Call Elena, since Damon isn't picking up his phone." Melanie said to Caroline, as she hung up her phone after trying to call Damon _again_ for like the 10th time.

The blonde called Elena and waited until she picked up.

"So the necklace, isn't where Damn said it would be and now we can't reach Damon." Caroline informed Elena through the phone.

"Listen, I need you and Mel to get Bonnie to hold off on sending the ghosts back." Elena asked her friend awkwardly.

"What?!" Caroline harshly whispered into the phone, "But you said you were in full support of getting rid of them."

"I was! I am..." Elena took a breath, "Look Lexi's here and she's helping find Stefan."

Caroline sighed and answered reluctantly, "Okay, let's just find and then we'll choose between boyfriend ghost dramas."

As soon she let those words slip out, Bonnie's attention turned towards the Blonde.

"What are you talking about?" Bonnie asked her with furrowed eyebrows.

Caroline and Melanie gulped nervously. "Lexi's back so Elena wants to hold off on destroying the necklace." Caroline said trying to play it off coolly.

Bonnie narrowed her eyes. "You said boyfriend dramas. Plural." She said walking up to her, "What is it you guys?"

Melanie's gaze went to the floor unable to look at her friend, knowing she was about to get her heartbroken...because of her brother.

"Elena caught Jeremy kissing Anna." Caroline's voice was small as she admitted the truth.

"What?" Bonnie asked her eyes blinking quickly.

Caroline lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"He kissed her?" Bonnie's voice was no louder than whisper, yet Melanie was able to hear it.

"I'm sorry Bonnie." She said to one of her best friends.

Bonnie looked at her. "Did you know? Where you there?" She asked her, tears trying to escape her eyes.

Melanie nodded her head. "Yeah..."

Caroline being her optimistic self tried to make Bonnie feel better. "She's got a foothold now, so she probably thinks that she's here to stay. But Mel, you and I we're going to find that necklace, okay?"

"She's right." Melanie agreed with her, and took a hold of Bonnie's hand giving her a comforting squeeze.

* * *

Caroline, Bonnie, and Melanie were still at the boarding house looking for the necklace, but Caroline patience was wearing thin.

"Ugh! I give up. It's not anywhere in this room!" Caroline hissed leaning back on Damon's wall just as Bonnie's phone began to vibrate. She looked at the caller I.D. and saw that is was Jeremy who was calling. Caroline immediately took the phone from her and answered the call. "What do you want Jeremy?" The blonde snarled into the phone.

"Caroline?" He asked confused as to why she had answered, "Did you find the necklace?"

"No not yet." She answered harshly before she heard sirens in the back ground, "Wait what's going on?"

"Ghosts, of the tomb vampires killed Tobias Fell." He informed her, Caroline's face becoming worried, "You might want to find that necklace before they start going alphabetically though the founding families."

"Well, it's not where it's suppose to be!" Caroline answered before her face lit up with suspicion, "Unless, someone took it."

"Who?" Jeremy asked.

"Well, who do you think?" Caroline said curtly.

Melanie's eyebrows creased. Took it? Who would of taken...then it hit her...only one person would of taken the necklace.

"She said she didn't take it." He said referring to Ana.

"Oh and you believe her?" Caroline scoffed at him.

"You know what? Yeah I do believe her." He sharply answered her.

Caroline's face darkened. "You know what you're an even bigger idiot than I thought!" She yelled at him, "So wake up Jeremy before you lose everything!" She hanged up the phone and looked over towards Melanie. "Your brothers a real piece of work, you know that?"

Melanie scratched the back of her head. She really didn't want to bad mouth her brother, but the decisions he had been making recently weren't making him the most liked person right now. So instead of replying to Caroline's comment she just waved it off. "Come on let's just focus on finding the necklace."

* * *

The girl's were now in Bonnie's car while Caroline was in the passenger seat and Melanie in the back seat.

"Jeremy's, got the necklace," Caroline told the Bonnie and Melanie with a smile. "He's going to meet us at the witch house with it."

"Okay," Bonnie answered looking out her car window to see a car accident up a head of her, "What's going on here?"

Melanie instantly recognized the car. "That's Mrs. Lockwood's car." She stated perplexed as to why it was crashed.

Upon seeing the tomb vampire Caroline's protective streak broke out. "Bonnie, I'm going to get out of the car."

"What?" Bonnie answered shocked.

"And you're gonna drive Mel and your self away from here." She ordered her.

"Caroline!" Melanie gasped, "Are you insane?'

"No way! I'm not leaving you." Bonnie hissed at her.

"Bonnie, you've got your boyfriend drama, Elena's has her, and right now the mother of mine is about to be ghost bait." She said referring to Tyler's mom who was stuck in the car. "Not to mention you got Mel in the back seat, so go and send them all back to the other side okay?" She nodded at witch giving her a serious look before getting out of the car, with that said Bonnie quickly drove away.

* * *

Melanie watched as Bonnie set fire to the chimney lighting it up. They were now in the abandoned witch house, candles lighting up the power but they were both caught by surprise by Jeremy's sudden appearance. "Bonnie!"

"Jeremy?" Melanie asked walking over to him.

Her brother gave her a quick nod of acknowledgement before looking over at Bonnie. Melanie though could see Bonnie's face and it wasn't filled with happiness. No, her face was less than pleased to see him. Without a word she quickly snatched the necklace from Jeremy's hands and threw it into the fireplace. The two teens watched as she began chanting a spell, taken by surprise when her grams joined her to finished the spell.

Melanie watched Bonnie perform the spell and saw how her grams quickly vanished. Did it work? Were all the ghosts gone...

"Bonnie?" Melanie whispered carefully.

"It's done." Her friend answered her with a tearful voice. Melanie gave her an understanding nod.

Bonnie sobbed and keeled down by the fireplace, Jeremy walked over to her slowly. "Bonnie-"

"Just go away Jeremy." Bonnie said refusing to look at him.

"I owe you an explanation." Jeremy said softly.

Bonnie turned to give him a hard glare. "Matt let go of sister before you let go Anna! His sister Jeremy!" She snarled at him, "You know what you owe me? The respect of not making me listen to you explain yourself."

Jeremy lowered his gaze, "I am so sorry, Bonnie."

"You need to go." She ordered at him.

"But-"

"Just go Jeremy." She command in a deadpan tone.

Jeremy gave her a sad look before leaving the house.

Bonnie,-" Melanie said gently.

"Please, Mel." Bonnie said closing her eyes, "I just want to be alone."

Melanie reluctantly nodded her head. "Alright, but I'll be here for you whenever you need to talk." She told giving her a hug before she left the abandoned witch house.

* * *

Melanie sighed, as she took a seat inside the Mystic Grill. Today had been a long brooding day. Not only did she have to deal with ghost's but also with relationship drama between her brother and her best friend.

How could Jeremy do that? She asked that question to herself again. She remembered when Jeremy had told her he was in love with Bonnie. _In love_. So why would he kiss Anna? Was is it because he was in love with Anna too? Well he did like her before Bonnie, but that wasn't the point. The point was that he betrayed Bonnie by going behind her back to be with Anna. Would a person who was in love do that to their loved one? Melanie didn't think so... But alas...she didn't know the feeling personally.

She had seen it with her parents. Saw the way they loved each other, and saw the affection they gave one another. She had also seen it when Elena had first met Stefan before he had turned off his humanity. The way they looked into each others eyes said it all. Melanie had witnessed many people in love but she never felt it for herself. She liked to use the excuse that the reason why was because of her crazy supernatural life, but that didn't really make sense. Since her sister did find love with a vampire, not to mention all of her friends had either dated or were currently dating someone. There had been times in the past were Caroline had set her up with guys before, but Melanie never felt that connection towards them, _none at all_. So she would tell Caroline it was because they weren't her type. Caroline just waved it off thinking it was because she was too focused in school. Which wasn't necessarily true but Melanie took that excuse as a perfect escape from going on more dates.

So to her love was never something she thought would occur for her. Maybe at some point in her life she would be able to find someone who held common interest with her, but with the life she lives in she doubted it.

The sound of the chair next to her being pulled out caught her attention.

"Fancy seeing you here." Rebekah gave her a smile and sat down next to her.

"Rebekah?" Melanie said giving her a small frown, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh don't act like you're not happy to see me," Rebekah playfully rolled her eyes, "Besides this is the notorious Mystic Grill right?" She picked up the menu that was on the table and looked through it. "So what do you recommend, since I'm a first time customer."

Melanie just stared at her with her mouth opened.

"You know Mel, you'll catch flies with your mouth opened like that." Rebekah told her with out taking her eyes off the menu.

Melanie quickly closed her mouth and composed herself. "Sorry, it's just uh-been along day."

"Yes, I know you had to deal with that ghost problem right?" Rebekah told her this time looking at her.

"Yeah-wait you knew about that?" Melanie questioned her with creased eyebrows.

"Of course I knew, this is after all a small town." Rebekah replied nonchalantly. "Nothing stay's hidden forever."

Melanie narrowed her eyes at her. "So what? You just decided to come check out the grill?"

Rebekah sighed. "Well if you must know I was bored so I decided to wander around town and I magically arrived here." She said smiling, "And would you look at that you're here too!" Melanie couldn't help my smile at her joyful tone. This was the first time all day that she smiled a _real genuine smile._

"Ahhh, got you to smile now didn't I?" Rebekah said smugly.

Melanie just rolled her eyes at her the smile still on her face.

"So about what to order..."Rebekah said again looking over the menu options.

Melanie this time laughed as she explained every order on the menu to Rebekah earning looks of wonder and amazement from the vampire. Most of the food on the menu was new to her and she was eager to try it all. Melanie would be lying if she said she wasn't having a good time with her. In fact it was probably the best she had felt all day, and all thanks to the original blonde vampire sitting next to her.


	6. Chapter 6: Holding you

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. I only own my OC Melanie Gilbert.**

Hello my lovely readers! Thanks for those who have favored and reviewed this story, you have no idea how much it means to me! I'm really liking how this story is turning out to be so please keep on reading :)

For those who have asked who my face claim is for Melanie it's Hailee Steinfeld :) Check out my profile for some images, that are linked on there.

Once again this chapter is in 3rd POV since I'm loving writing this way.

For those who wanted more Melanie and Rebekah scenes this chapter is for you!

* * *

_"Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being."_

_ Albert Schweitzer_

**_Chapter 6: Holding you_**

Melanie had woken up extra early the next morning, to go with Elena to meet up with Alaric at the old Lockwood cellar. Her sister had explained to her how they found carvings on the walls. Alaric had spent the whole night in the hidden tunnels trying to figure out what those carved symbols meant. Both girls were now following Alaric, with Elena holding the flashlight.

"So the Lockwood's, really have no idea that these tunnels are underneath their property?" Elena questioned turning to face Alaric.

"Yeah." Alaric answered and smiled. "Careful, where you shine that thing. Bats hate the light."

Melanie stifled her giggling when she saw her older sister's freaked out face.

"Wait what?" Elena asked alarmed.

"Boo!" Damon whispered behind Elena, as she let out a loud shriek. It echoed through the caves making Melanie finally crack up in laughter. Her older sister was way to easy to scare sometimes.

"Oh-my God you should of seen your face." Melanie said in between laughs.

Elena gave her an impassive look before turning to glare at Damon.

"Scaredy-cat." He said smirking at her.

"Shut up." Elena hissed jokingly at him.

"Just ignore him." Alaric said giving Damon a side glance. "That's what I do."

"So you really can't get in?" Elena asked Damon.

"No, seems even the ancient Lockwood's were anti-vampire." Damon told her, as they all continued walking through the dark cave.

"Wait." Melanie said raising her eyebrows. "What do you mean ancient?"

"See for yourself." Damon said shrugging his shoulder, coming to a stop once they approached the barrier. "This is as far as I get to go." Elena, Melanie, and Alaric continued to walk inside. Elena raised up her flashlight allowing them to look at all the symbols on the cave walls. Melanie stared at the symbols in astonishment.

"What is all this?" She asked studying each symbol carefully.

"Well as far as I can tell, it's a story. In simple archaeological terms, it's a really really old story." Alaric informed them. "That right there, is the moon cycle. A man, a wolf." He said pointing to the symbol.

"A werewolf." Melanie guessed when she saw it, Alaric nodded his head.

"Yeah, it's the Lockwood's diaries, pictionary style." Damon wisecracked, causing Melanie to giggle.

"I don't understand, I thought the Lockwood's came here with the original founders in the 1860's." Elena asked bemused by the discovery.

"Maybe the Lockwood's did but according to this wall, these werewolves have been here a lot longer than that." Alaric commented, giving them the little information he had been able to gather.

"How long?" Elena asked him.

Damon gave her a grin. "Long, it gets better. Show them Ric."

Alaric shone the light from the flashlight towards another part of the cave. "Names, they're not native. They're written in Runic."

"You mean as in Vikings?" Melanie asked, hey eyebrows creased, thinking immediately about Rebekah.

"This name here, when translated it reads...Niklaus." Alaric said.

"Klaus?" Elena whispered in disbelief.

Alaric pointed the flashlight to the other two symbols. "And Elijah...and Rebekah."

"Rebekah..." Melanie mumbled under her breath, but Alaric still heard her and nodded his head.

"These are the names of the original family?" Elena questioned.

"Carved into a cave that's been here since way before the founding of Mystic Falls." Alaric replied his his voice full of shock. "Or even the entire new world for that matter."

"Okay this has gotta be one of Klaus's fakes." Elena said shaking her head, as Melanie was still looking over at Rebekah's named carved onto the wall.

"That's what I said." Damon interjected.

"That could be true, except the last name thats up here made us think other wise." Alaric said shining the light up on the wall again, showing them another carved name.

"What's the name?" Elena asked staring at the symbol.

"Mikael." Alaric simply responded back to her.

"Mikael?" Elena uttered. "Mikael as in the vampire hunter who knows how to kill Klaus?"

"Yup." Damon responded with a grin. "And I'd like to call him Papa Original."

Melanie's jaw dropped in shock, as did Elena's. She walked towards the other side of the cave and noticed several other names as well. She grabbed the bag she was carrying and took out her camera. "Here, I brought my camera so you can take pictures and look them over." She said handing Alaric her camera. He gave her a thankful smile before he started taking pictures of all the carved names on the cave wall.

Melanie slowly walked over towards where Rebekah's name was carved and gently traced the carving.

"You alright there, Mel?" Alaric asked as he saw her standing near one of the carvings.

Melanie quickly let her hand down and turned around to face him.

"Uh-yeah-just um getting a better look that's all." She said stuttering before going back over to where Elena was standing at.

Alaric gave her a perplexed look before he continued to take more photos.

* * *

Alaric and Melanie were now looking at the photos that he had taken with Melanie's camera, while Elena and Damon were practicing their vampire combat sparring skills. "These images tell a story...to learn the story, I have to decipher these images." Alaric informed them aloud, while Melanie studied the images intently.

Elena threw a punch at Damon but he caught it easily.

"Sloppy." He said to her letting go of her hand.

"I'm new at this." Elena retorted back as he gave her the stake he managed to take out of her hand. She continued to try to attack him as Damon spoke to Alaric.

"The ghost of Christmas past, Mason Lockwood set up the cave and lead us to a weapon that can kill Klaus."

"Yeah, but doesn't Mikael have a weapon?" Elena asked lunging towards Damon as he dodged her once again.

"Yes, which probably means the wall will lead us to Mikael, who we've already lost." Damon commented as he managed to take the stake out her grasps and grabbed her arm.

"Bang, you're dead." Damon smirked, while he pretended to bite into Elena's neck.

"These images at the very least might tell us what the weapon is." Alaric argued back to him.

"Okay, then all we have to do is find out what these symbols mean." Melanie said standing next to Alaric.

"Well, fine fine." Damon interrupted the conversation. "If I'm being irritatingly optimistic like you two. How do you suppose we do that?"

Melanie's ears perked up when she heard this, an idea instantly forming in her mind...

"Well..." Melanie spoke up. "If they story's about the Original family living here, then we go straight to the source." She faced the three of them and before grabbing the photo with Rebekah's name on it.

Elena looked at her confused before she saw the photo. "Oh no, no way! You are not going to talk to her on your own."

Melanie sighed at her sister's mother hen antics. This would't be the first time she would be with Rebekah alone, since she did hang out with her at the grill a couple of days ago. Then again Elena didn't need to know about that...

"Elena! She's not gonna hurt me? Don't you think she would of done so by now if she wanted to?" Melanie argued back.

Elena was ready to responded but Alaric interrupted her. "Elena, as much as I dislike this idea, Mel has a point."

"Baby Gilbert's, right if Blondie wanted her dead she would be dead, but for some reason the original likes her." Damon said nonchalantly from where he was standing giving Melanie a smile. "So I'd say shes safe for now."

Elena let out a huff crossing her arms. "Alright fine, but I'm going with you." She said not taking any no's or but's from the youngest Gilbert.

"I suppose that's better than nothing." Melanie murmured, she looked at her sister. "Well then let's go. I have a feeling I'll know where she'll be at."

Elena grabbed her jacket and followed her sister out the door.

* * *

Elena pulled up into the Mystic Falls school and parked. Melanie has already unbuckled her seat belt before turning to look at her sister.

"Let, me talk to her first alright?" Elena opened her mouth ready to disagree but Melanie held up her hand stopping her. "Just let me okay?" Elena sighed and reluctantly nodded her head.

Melanie got out of the car and walked towards the playing fields and saw Rebekah stretching for cheer. She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to control her heat beat as she saw her in her work out clothes. She took a deep breath and continued her walking.

The blonde vampire after performing a varies set of cartwheels caught eye of the youngest Gilbert and smiled instantly.

"Well look who it is, couldn't wait to see me so soon, huh?" Rebekah asked, teasing her. "Or are you here to take more pictures for the yearbook?"

Melanie blushed but quickly hid it with a smile. "No, I'm not here to take pictures. I think I've gotten enough..."

"Oh then what do I owe the pleasure then?" Rebekah questioned smiling. "Thinking about joining the cheerleading team?"

Melanie snorted. "Cheerleading isn't really my thing. I'm not exactly the most coordinated person." She gave Rebekah a lopsided smile. "You on the other hand, you're amazing." She admitted before she realized what she said her eyes widen. "I-I mean I've seen you cheer and for a beginner you're good."

Rebekah just smiled even more hearing her stutter, she found it quite adorable. "Why, thank you." Melanie gave her a sheepish look managing to contain her eye level with hers. This gave Rebekah time to actually study her eye color...she knew that they were brown but looking closely she noticed that they were actually a warm light honey color brown. She felt drawn to those eyes, they gave her a sense of comfort. There was just something about this young Gilbert girl that made her want to be friends with her. Just as she was about to continue talking to her something in her peripheral vision caught her attention making her smile go away quickly as it came. Melanie noticed this and frowned, did she do something wrong?

Rebekah stared at person who was behind Melanie with a scowl. "You, Goody."

Melanie looked over he shoulder to see who Rebekah was talking to and saw that it was her sister. She inwardly sighed, couldn't she have given her more time to talk alone with the blonde vampire? "Elena..." Melanie whispered, but Elena just focused her attention towards Rebekah.

"I was hoping we could talk." Elena announced to Rebekah.

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Can't you see I'm talking to your sister? Or this about Stefan?" She scoffed at her. "Don't worry I'm off him until he starts treating me better. In fact, you should probably take a page out of my book if I'm being honest."

Melanie for some reason felt glad about what she said about Stefan, the feeling she felt at the bonfire was no longer there anymore. Instead she felt..relief.

Elena held up the photo with Rebekah's name written in Runic. "Actually, I'd rather talk about this. I'm curious why you and Klaus have spent a thousand years running from your father."

Rebekah's posture became stiff. "I should go back to the girls, Homecoming's right around the corner." She said avoiding Elena's question, and glanced towards Melanie. "I'll see you later, Mel."

"Well then maybe I'll ask Mikael when we wake him." Elena added, causing Rebekah to stop walking and turned around to face her again.

"You're bluffing!" Rebekah said a hint of panic in her voice. "You don't even know where he is, no one does."

"So then who's rotting in that old cemetery in Charlotte?" Elena asked innocently.

Rebekah glanced over at Melanie and noticed how she had a sober expression, letting her know Elena was bluffing.

"If you wake up Mikael we are all doomed!" Rebekah said, Melanie saw the fear in her eyes, actual genuine fear.

"So then tell me." Elena demanded.

"Why do you want to know?" Rebekah questioned her.

"Why don't you want to wake him?" Melanie asked gently.

"I need to get back to the girls." Rebekah said ignoring her question as she walked away from the two of them.

Melanie turned to look at her sister and let out a exasperated breath.

"Elena, I said to let me talk to her."

"I'm sorry Mel, I just don't like you being around her." Elena said, and narrowed her eyes. "It looked like you guys were talking about something else. When did you get so friendly with her anyways?"

"I don't know what you're talking about I was just trying to get her to talk before you interrupted." Melanie said lying to her sister, instantly feeling bad, but she knew she couldn't actually tell her that she and Rebekah were having an actual conversation... like they've been having for some time now. Her sister would flip the freak out.

"Okay." Elena said sounding skeptical by her answer but didn't push her.

"Come on let's just go back to Alaric's. Maybe he's figured something else." Melanie said trying to get the spot light away from her. Luckily that seemed to work since both girls were now on there way to go see their history teacher.

* * *

Just outside of Alaric's apartment stood Elena and Melanie. The oldest Gilbert was on the phone talking with Damon.

"She's going to tell me. She's scared of him, Damon. Mel and I saw her face, I just have to engage in a little mean girl power struggle first." Elena told Damon through the phone.

"Make sure she doesn't power struggle you into a grave." Damon countered back to her. "What happened to letting Mel talk to her?"

Elena sighed. "Look I've got this okay Damon." She said causing Melanie to silently scoff. "If we can figure out a way to kill Klaus, Stefan will be free of his compulsion." She closed her and eyes and then slowly opened them, her voice sounded softer. "How does he look?"

Melanie turned to look at her sister, knowing she was asking Damon about Stefan's current condition.

"Hmmm, pasty and pouty." Damon responded back.

Elena let out a huff of air. "He'll have to get over it. Call me later, Rebekah will come around." She said, sounding confident ending the phone call.

The two girls walked into Alaric's apartment. Once the history teacher heard them come in he glanced over towards Elena. "Are you sure? I mean a thousand year old vampire, is not the art of patience."

Melanie phone in that moment chimed, notifying her she got a new text message. Looking down at her phone she saw that the message was from Rebekah herself.

**Tell your sister to come over for a chat, come along as well.- Rebekah **

How in the world did she get her number?

"Well she'll a thousand year old vampire, who's just joined the cheer leading squad...This is a whole different set of rules that play here." Elena said crossing her arms, eyeing Melanie who was staring at her phone intently. "Who you texting, Mel?"

"Uh not texting, got a message instead." She told her showing the message she got from the Original vampire. The two brunettes looked at each other as Alaric read the message.

Elena gave her a perplexed expression. "Wait how did she even get your number?"

"I don't know, Elena." Melanie replied back to her. "Let's just go see what she has to say to us okay?" Melanie said not waiting to hear her response, making her way towards the door, Elena quickly following her.

* * *

Elena and Melanie made it to the boarding house and walked in. Melanie could hear the music that was playing in the parlour room. Once they were settled inside she saw Rebekah standing there holding three champagne cups with a grin on her face.

"Hey Mel! Whats up?" She said completely ignoring Elena. Melanie was about to answer her before Elena spoke up, interrupting her.

"You invited the both of us, to talk." Elena reminded her, creasing her eyebrows.

Rebekah handed both of them a glass of champagne, Elena eyed it warily while Melanie took a small sip.

The blonde Original vampire looked over her shoulder. "Alright, girls have at it." A group of girls walked out modeling dresses, they were all lined up. "Okay now twirl, please." Rebekah told them as each girl did a spin.

"Umm Rebekah, what is all this?" Melanie asked bemused.

"What do you think silly?" She said smiling.

"You've compelled your own private runway show?" Elena asked Rebekah.

"I need a Homecoming dress." Rebekah said glancing towards Melanie. "So what do you think Mel? Pick one."

"We're not here to help you shop. We're here to talk about why you don't want us to wake up Mikael." Elena said sternly not letting Melanie answer Rebekah's question.

Rebekah rolled her eyes at Elena and sped over to one of the models, her fangs bared out for them to see. Making both of the Gilbert's become completely alarmed with her sudden movement.

"I asked Melanie, not you Elena." Rebekah said giving Elena a warning glare. "So like I was saying..." She glanced towards Melanie. "Pick one."

Melanie nervously looked at all the dresses, trying to pick one that would compliment the vampire. Her eyes suddenly landed on the red one, instantly picturing how Rebekah would look in it, liking the image that was planted in her head.

"The red one." Melanie said trying to control her blushing. "The color suits you..."

Rebekah laughed at the irony of the color of the dress, but secretly liked that she choose that one. "Good choice." She looked over at Elena and gave her a sneer. "There, that wasn't so hard was it?"

Elena just gave her a stiff nod as Rebekah turned back to the compelled girls. "Go upstairs, remember nothing." The girls did as they were ordered and left without saying another word. Rebekah walked over to Elena with a scowl. "You do not threaten me. You'll learn what I allow you you to learn, is that clear?" She hissed at her, making Melanie gulp hearing the threatening voice she was using on her older sister. Elena slowly nodded her head again.

"We understand." Melanie answered, trying to sound brave.

Rebekah's scowl went away and a mischievous grin instead replaced it. "Great! Now how about we snoop around Stefan's room." She grabbed onto Melanie's hand making the younger Gilbert to become stunned. Melanie took in a breath when she felt Rebekah's hand on hers. They were so soft...

She quickly composed herself letting out the air she was holding in, allowing Rebekah to drag her into Stefan's room.

The two girls entered the room, the door creaking open. Rebekah walked in with Melanie going straight for Stefan's drawers.

"How fun is this?" Rebekah giggled.

"We shouldn't be here." Elena complained leaning against the door frame.

"Course we should! Like you never wanted to snoop." Rebekah gushed opening one of the drawers pulling out a pair of Stefan's underwear. "Boxer briefs, now that's a change from the twenties." She said smugly holding up the pair against Melanie, making her scoff trying to contain her laughter.

Elena narrowed her eyes. "Are we gonna root through Stefan's stuff all night, or are you going to tell me your story?" She asked impatiently.

Rebekah huffed. "You really are no fun." She derisively and then glanced towards Melanie. "Looks like Mel got all the fun genes in the family.

Melanie gave her a small smile, liking the compliment she had given her. Elena just gave Rebekah a pointed look, causing the Original to sigh.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well Elijah, said that your father was a landowner in Europe. How did you guys end up here?" Melanie asked her.

Rebekah gave her a smile. "My parents had just started a family when a plague struck their homeland. They lost a child to it. They wanted to escape and protect their future family from the same fate." She explained to her, while going through Stefan's personal items still.

"So how did you end up here? This part of the world hadn't even been discovered yet." Elena reminded her.

Rebekah just scoffed. "Not by anyone in your history books, but my mother knew of a witch Ayana, who heard of the spirits of a mystical land where everyone was healthy. Blessed by the gifts of speed and strength. That led my family here, where we lived amongst those people."

"Wait you mean the werewolves?" Melanie guessed and Rebekah nodded her head.

"To us they were just our neighbors. My family lived in peace with them for over twenty years, during which time my family had more children." Rebekah continued and smiled. "Including me."

"You make it sound so normal." Elena stated.

"It was." Rebekah responded back, while staring out the window as a memory came to her mind. "Once a month our family, retreated to the caves beneath our village. The wolves would howl through the night, and by morning, we'd return home." She lowered her gaze from the window. "One full moon, Klaus and my youngest brother, Henrik snuck out to watch the men turn into beasts. That was forbidden. Henrik payed the price..."

Melanie could see the pain on her face and instantly felt sad, hearing the story about how she lost her youngest brother tragically.

Rebekah let out an aghast sigh and turned around to face the girls. "And that was the beginning of the end of peace with out neighbors." She glanced carefully towards Melanie and saw the sorrow that was filing in her honey colored eyes. "And of the last moments my family had together as humans."

"I'm so sorry." Melanie announced with a genuine tone. Rebekah looked taken back by her sympathy but continued to stare at her. Elena saw the two of them gazing at each other intently, and was about to say something, before her phone rang.

Rebekah cleared her throat and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "You better get that, that'll be Damon checking up on you." She said to Elena, whatever moment she was having with Melanie, now over. Melanie sighed, wondering what just happened between her and the blonde vampire...

"Hello?" Elena answered the phone, her eyebrows furrowed. "Damon, where are you?"

"Damon?" Melanie asked, her sister just gave her a nod.

"No idea, but I'm pretty sure I'm over dressed. Still standing?" Damon said through the phone. Rebekah gave an eye-roll when she heard his voice, making Melanie give her a confused face. The blonde just gave her a nonchalance smile.

"Yes, I'm fine but I can't talk right now." Elena replied, but her face fell when she heard a familiar voice in the background. "Was that, Stefan?"

"Yeah, I kind of went off book, but don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Damon reassured her, knowing she was about to freak out.

Elena's face became full with anger. "Damon! How could you let him out?"

Melanie's face became puzzled when she heard her sister yelling at Damon through the phone. What had Damon done? She walked over to where her sister was standing.

"I got this, Elena. You and Mel, handle Barbie Original." Damon said before hanging up the phone. Elena let out an annoyed sighed and shoved the phone into her pocket.

"What happened?" Melanie asked as soon as Elena ended the call.

"Damon decided to take out Stefan." Elena replied back, Melanie's jaw dropped.

"What? Is he crazy?"

"I know." Elena said her hand going through her hair before she turned to face Rebekah, who was now laying down on the bed reading one of Stefan's old journals. "Did you get your fill on snooping yet? Can we get on with the story?"

Rebekah rolled her eyes at Elena and got up from the bed and walked over towards the two girls. She cocked her perfect shaped eye brow when she picked up a picture of Elena and Stefan. "Honestly, I don't get you two as a couple."

"Why would you?" Elena rebuffed back. "You don't know anything about who he really is."

"I know exactly who he is." Rebekah said and leaned forward, trying to intimidated her. "He's a vampire. We're a predatory species. We don't have time to care about humans and their silly little lives."

Melanie gave her a doleful expression, while Elena narrowed her eyes not believing a word she was saying.

"Is that why you did that runway show earlier? Because you don't care about the Homecoming dance? Or if you really didn't care about humans, then why try to befriend my sister?" Elena said, calling her out before rolling her eyes. "You know what we're just gonna go." Elena stated grabbing Melanie's hand as they walked towards the door.

"You haven't even heard half the story." Rebekah called out, not wanting Melanie to leave. The fear of being alone hit her hard, for this had been the longest she's been with Melanie and she didn't want her time with her to be over with already.

Elena stopped her walking and turned to look over at Rebekah. "And you're not going to tell it." She replied back to her. "You're just bored and looking for someone to push around. Find someone else to play with. Maybe you can compel yourself a friend and finally leave my sister alone." Elena retorted back to her, causing Melanie to give her a glare for her last comment.

Rebekah ignored what she said and just continued to tell the story. "The necklace wasn't Stefan's to give, it belonged to the original witch."

Elena instantly became interested again. "The one who put the hybrid curse on Klaus?"

"Not just the hybrid curse." Rebekah informed. "She's the one who turned us into vampires." She said thinking about a memory of when she overheard her parents talking with the witch Ayana. She shook her head, coming back to the present and rubbed her throat. "I'm thirsty, do you want a drink?" She asked them taking a hold of Melanie's hand again as they made their way downstairs, Elena quickly following behind them.

The three of them began walking down the stairs.

"So vampirism was a form of protection?" Melanie asked, walking next to Rebekah on her left side.

Rebekah just smiled at her question. "What else would it be?"

"A curse." Elena suggested, causing Rebekah to sigh.

"My parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive."

"Yeah, but why stay?" Elena asked perplexed. "If they were so afraid of the werewolves, why not leave?"

Rebekah's face became deadpanned as she reached the last step of the sitars. She turned around to face the human girls. "Pride." She simply stated, which caused them to give her questionable stares. " My father didn't want to run anymore. He wanted to fight and be superior to the wolves. Where they had speed, we had to be faster. Agility, strength, senses." She said listing everything down. "The witch Ayana, would not help my family, so my mother simply took matters into her hands."

Elena raised an eyebrow. "In her hands? How could she do anything?"

"Because my mother was also a witch." Rebekah replied, nonchalantly.

"What?" Melanie questioned out loud.

"The witch of the Original family." Rebekah simply replied back and shrugged. "The Original witch."

Melanie and Elena each got a shocked face, following Rebekah into the library.

"Where do they keep their best vintage?" Rebekah asked looking around the room for alcohol.

"But if your mom was a witch then does that mean..." Elena trailed off.

"Am I?" Rebekah finished her question. "No, a witch is a nature's servant, a vampire is an abomination of nature." She replied back apathetically. "You can either be one or the other, never both." She stated taking out a bottle of whine from underneath the cabinet. "My mother did this for us, she did not turn."

"How did you turn?" Melanie asked softly, as she watched Rebekah walk near the fireplace.

"She called upon the sun for life and the ancient white oak tree, one of nature's eternal objects, for immortality." Rebekah said staring at the fire with a grim expression. "That night my father, offered us wine laced with blood. And then he drove his sword through our hearts."

"My God..." Melanie whispered. "He killed you?"

Rebekah glanced over her shoulder. "And he wasn't delicate about it either." She masked her emotions, as she broke the top of the wine glass, throwing the broken piece into the fire. Making both of the Gilbert girls to jump in place. "We had to drink more blood to complete the ritual." Rebekah explained thinking back to the night, when she turned into a vampire, the first time she had tasted human blood. "It was euphoric, the feeling of power was indescribable. But the witch Ayana was right about the consequences. The spirits turned on us, and nature fought back." She paused and saw how engrossed Melanie was with her story. "For every strength there would be a weakness. The sun became our enemy, it kept us in doors for weeks." Rebekah recalled looking down at her daylight ring. "Until my mother found a solution, but there were other problems.

"What kind?" Elena asked her.

"Neighbors who had opened their homes to us could now keep us out." Rebekah explained. "Flowers at the base of the white oak burned and prevented compulsion."

"You mean vervain?" Melanie clarified.

Rebekah nodded her head. "Yes, and the spell decreed that the tree that gave us life could also take it away...so we burned it to the ground." She said, her voice becoming solemn. "But the darkest, consequences was something my parents never anticipated. The hunger...blood had made us reborn, and it was blood that we craved about all else." Her eyes closed for a second thinking about her uncontrolled hunger when turning. "We could not control it...and with that a predatory species was born...

Melanie, took in everything that Rebekah has just finished saying, going through everything carefully. Elena blinked a couple times before she creased her eyebrows.

"Why did Mikael start hunting Klaus?"

"When Nik made his first human kill, it triggered the werewolf gene." Rebekah answered, as she stated aimlessly walking around the room. "With that, he became my father's greatest shame."

"Yeah, Elijah told me this part of the story." Elena said, remembering what Elijah has told her a while ago. "Your mother had an affair with one of the werewolf villagers. Klaus wasn't his son."

Rebekah sighed. "She tried to make it right. She put the hybrid curse on Nik to suppress his werewolf side and then turned her back on him." She explained. "But Mikael's greatest weakness as a human was his pride...as a vampire that was magnified." She took a pause. "He went on a rampage and killed half the village. Then he came home and killed her."

Melanie let out an aghast breath. "Mikael killed your mother?"

Rebekah pressed her lips together. "He said she broke his heart...so he would break hers." Her British accent broke as she spoke, but she still kept her emotions together. "He tore it from her chest as Nik watched. Afterwards, my father took off in a range, and the rest of my family scattered. Nik stayed, so he could help me bury her. He knew I had to say goodbye to my mother." Rebekah gazed over towards Melanie. "We stayed together, as a family...always and forever."

"Always and forever?" Elena repeated. "Even though he locked you in a coffin for ninety years?" She added sarcastically.

"We're vampires, our emotions are heightened. I'm stubborn, Elijah is moral and Nik...well Nik has no tolerance for those who disobey him. Over a thousand years as a family, we've all made mistakes at least once. I've made it several times." Rebekah admitted sadly.

Melanie saw the sad expression Rebekah had and wondered what those mistakes, she'd done in the past were.

"But you still love him?" Elena asked in disbelief.

Rebekah narrowed her eyes at the doppelganger. "He's my brother, and I am immortal. Should I spend an eternity alone instead?" Rebekah retorted back to Elena. When she didn't respond back to her Rebekah just let out an annoyed sigh. "You've heard the story, it's time to go."

Melanie could tell the vampire was losing her patience and wanted her space so she went to move, but her sister didn't even move a muscle.

"I said leave Elena, I don't know what you're playing at but I'm no longer playing along." Rebekah said aggravated.

"Lena maybe we should just go now." Melanie said trying to get her sister to budge.

"I'm just looking for one good reason why we shouldn't wake up Mikael." Elena replied stubbornly.

"And I've given you a thousand!" Rebekah argued back to her. "But you will anyways. I know you want him to help you kill my brother, I'm not stupid."

Melanie could tell this argument was about to turn heated.

"It's not a secret, that I want Klaus dead." Elena stated. "He has a hold over Stefan's life and over mine."

Rebekah walked closer to get Elena getting face to face with her. "Do what you need, wake Mikael at your own peril." Her voice turned threatening. "But make no mistake, if you come after my brother, I will rip you apart. And I get my temper from my father." She hissed at her, before giving Melanie a quick glance. "Now I'd listen to your sister and leave."

Melanie took a hold of Elena's hand and dragged her towards the door. She quickly gazed over at Rebekah, who now was turned away facing the fireplace. With a heavy sigh, Melanie closed the front door. She then got into her sister's car and they both drove away from the Salvatore boarding house.

* * *

The girls were now back with Alaric and Bonnie inside the caves.

"We filled up what we could." Alaric said sticking up the notes next to the symbols. "A vampire, werewolf, slaughter, mayhem, etc..."

Elena moved her flashlight towards one of the symbols. "That's the white oak tree that was used in the spell to create vampires." She then moved her flashlight towards the left. "Which means that was when they burned down the tree, destroying the only way that they could be killed." She explained.

"Okay so tree equals weapon, sort of." Alaric mused. "We already know that, what we don't know is this." He said pointing at a carved symbol with his flashlight. "We've got the witch symbol and what looks like to be a bleeding heart."

"Don't upside figures usually mean death of some kind?" Melanie asked the history teacher.

"Yeah they do." He replied back to her.

Elena studied the carvings up close. "Mikael killed the witch by ripping out her heart." She creased her eyebrows seeing the symbol next to it. "But why is that one connected to the witch's death?"

"I don't know, we haven't gotten that far." Bonnie said tilting her head.

"Oh my God." Elena whispered.

"What?" Melanie asked. "Elena?"

Elena's eyes were widen open. "Rebekah doesn't know the real story."

"What do you mean?" She asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Come on we have to go back." Her sister said grabbing her hand once again, heading back to the boarding house.

* * *

Rebekah was in the parlour room pouring herself a drink from Damon's bourbon, when she heard the front door open. She immediately knew who had arrived making her roll her eyes.

"I thought I told you to leave, twice." She said curtly to Elena, Melanie was here as well but she didn't mind the company of the youngest Gilbert if she was telling the truth. The oldest Gilbert though, that's another story.

Elena ignored her statement and stepped into the room, Melanie following behind her. "How do you know that Mikael killed your mother?"

"Nik was there he told me." Rebekah simply replied.

"He lied to you." Elena said firmly.

Rebekah's face became hard. "And how do you know that?"

Elena took out the photos that Alaric had taken. "The cave where you carved your family's name's is covered in symbols." She started placing the photos onto the table displaying them. "How your parents arrived, how they made peace, the spell that turned them into vampires and this." She said pointing to the symbol that had the sun, fangs, and the moon. "It's a combination of the werewolf and vampire symbol. And this is the one of your mother." Elena said pointing to another symbol that had the drawing of the necklace.

Rebekah eyes widen. "Her necklace..."

Elena took out another photo laying out in front of her. "And this is the story of her death." Rebekah's eyes started to get teary, not believing what she was seeing. "The hybrid killed the Original witch. Not Mikael, Klaus."

Rebekah shook her head frantically. "No! He wouldn't." She roared, defending her older brother.

"She put the curse on him, made it so that he would be the only one of his kind, and then she rejected him." Elena argued with the vampire. "With the werewolf gene comes aggression and violence. When he turned all of that was heightened. He killed her, Rebekah, and made up this entire lie about your father, so that he wouldn't lose you."

Rebekah grasped the photos. "These mean nothing! They're stupid drawings, done by stupid people who have no idea who my family was." She said eyes tearing up, shoving the photos into the fire place.

Elena took a step towards her. "Then why are you upset?"

"Elena." Melanie warned her, having enough with seeing Rebekah upset. Couldn't her sister see that all she was doing was causing the girl more pain.

Rebekah was practically shaking now. "Why are you doing this to me? I've done nothing to you!" She hissed aggressively at Elena.

"Klaus, killed your mother!" Elena announced, ignoring Melanie's warnings. "He has a hold on you, on me, on everyone. He has for a thousand years. We have to make it stop!"

"Elena, enough!" Melanie begged her sister.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Rebekah yelled as she launched herself at Elena taking a hold of her throat as she held her against the wall. "Don't talk anymore! Nothing!" She cried, displaying her fangs and veins underneath her eyes.

Melanie quickly made her way over and tried ripping off Rebekah's arm off her sister.

"Stop! Let go!" She said to Rebekah. The blonde vampire locked her eyes with Melanie's seeing the fear in them. Elena for a second, thought her sister was going to get hurt but that thought was immediately proved wrong.

Rebekah let go of Elena and instead turned towards Melanie, letting herself crumple onto her shoulder for support. Melanie stumbled a bit but kept a steady hold on her, she was shocked. One second the vampire was full on attack mode and the next she's crying on her shoulder wanting to be comforted by her. Somehow though Melanie didn't mind...she liked the feeling of having her in her arms.

She gazed over to her sister who was leaning against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

"Lena, you need to leave." She whispered, trying not to startle Rebekah.

"What? No-" Elena protested but Melanie cut her off.

"Just go! I'll be fine." She said stroking Rebekah's hair.

Elena slowly started to reluctantly walk away. Melanie cradled Rebekah as she watched her sister leave the house. The vampire continued to cry onto her shoulder, her legs buckled and the two of them sank to the ground. With Melanie's hold never letting go.

"I'm so sorry, Bekah." Melanie apologized, softly.

Rebekah's breathing stopped when she heard the nickname she used. The only other people who called her that was her family, but somehow she liked the way it sounded when she said it. Her voice was soothing and brought her comfort, something that she hadn't been able to feel for a long time.

She moved her head higher onto her shoulder allowing her to nuzzle her neck, she took in a whiff of her scent, instantly making her calm down. She smelled like roses...

Melanie felt Rebekah nuzzle her neck and let out a gasp. A feeling of warmness started to fill up her stomach, just like the feeling she got when she saw her doing her cheer leading stunts. She had no idea what this feeling meant, but all she knew was that it intensified whenever she was with Rebekah. Swallowing the lump in her throat she continued to hold onto her.

Rebekah removed her face from her neck allowing her to look at Melanie's full face now. She sniffled her nose and composed herself, and stood up. She took out her hand towards Melanie, and the brunette got a hold of it. She pulled Melanie up to her feet next to her, Rebekah gave her a sheepish smile.

"Thank you...you didn't have to-" Melanie cut her off.

"I know I didn't but I wanted to." She said giving her a lopsided smile.

Rebekah didn't know what to say. She was surprised that Melanie had actually comforted her. She almost expected her to throw her off her shoulder, but the young girl didn't. She instead welcomed her, giving her the support she needed. She never allowed people to see her vulnerable side, that's something only her family had the privilege to see. Though having the doppelganger suddenly throw in all this information at her, saying her brother was the one who killed her mother, really brought her emotions out. Rebekah felt betrayed and she didn't even have anybody to confined in...well she didn't until she met the youngest Gilbert.

The vampire looked onto the floor before her attention went back to Melanie.

"Well, I suppose you should go home now..." Rebekah said sounding back to her usual self. "Before that sister of yours sends a search party."

Melanie giggled. "Knowing her...that's exactly what I think she'd do."

Rebekah heard her giggle and couldn't help but responded back with the same noise.

Melanie began walking to the door. "Bye..." She said softly.

"Wait!" Rebekah called out stopping her. "I never got to ask if you were going to Homecoming..."

Melanie tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Oh well I didn't really give much thought about it..."

Rebekah gave her a smile. "Go with me." Melanie gave her a surprised face, not believing what she was hearing. Rebekah just laughed seeing her expression. "What? I can't invite you to Homecoming?"

"No it-it's not that.." Melanie stuttered.

"Oh then I guess it's because you don't want to go with me." Rebekah said with a fake pout.

"No! It's just that I thought you would go with a date..." Melanie admitted bitterly.

"Why would I want to go with a date when I can go with my friend." Rebekah replied back to Melanie, giving her a smile.

"Really? You'd rather go with me?" Melanie asked elated by Rebekah's confession.

"Yes, so do you want to go?" Rebekah quirked an eyebrow waiting for her answer.

"Yeah, I'll go." Melanie replied, her tone full with excitement.

"Great I'll even wear the dress you picked out for me." Rebekah said winking at Melanie, making the human blush.

"Alright then..." Melanie said glancing at her. "Goodnight then."

"Oh and Mel..." Rebekah said making her once again stop before leaving. "Thank you." She said giving her a soft look.

Melanie instantly knew what she meant and nodded her head. "No problem, goodnight... Bekah."

Rebekah smiled hearing her say her nickname. "Goodnight...Mel."

Melanie finally went out the door closing it behind her. She started walking, before she glanced over her shoulder and gave the Salvatore boarding house a smile, not knowing that the blonde Original vampire also had the same genuine smile on her face.

* * *

_**A/N: Hello my wonderful readers! So I hope you really enjoyed this chapter! This chapter definitely had a great improvement on Mel's and Bekah's friendship! For those who wanted more scenes here you go! Anyways I'll try to update again later on this week, along with my other stories :) **_


	7. Chapter 7: Late night conversations

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. I only own my OC Melanie Gilbert.**

**Btw this chapter is a continuation from the last one. Enjoy. (: **

* * *

_"A sister is both your mirror – and your opposite."_

_Elizabeth Fishel_

_**Chapter 7: Late night conversations**_

Melanie closed the front door as gently as she could, trying to sneak in without attracting anyone's attention. All she wanted to do was sleep, she was tired due to all the walking she did from the boarding house. Her sister kept calling her several times, but she ignored her calls every time. To be honest she just wanted to be alone_—_especially from her sister_. S_he was still feeling giddy and excited all because of Rebekah and she didn't want that feeling to go away. The whole entire time she was walking the smile that had appeared at the boarding house never left her face, along with the butterfly feelings she had in her stomach as well.

Tip toeing she made her way towards the stairs, but a sudden cough made her come to a halt. She paused and stayed in place, as if she were caught red handed doing something bad. Turning her head sheepishly she saw her sister leaning against the door way that lead into the kitchen. She had her arms crossed and was giving her a scrutinizing look, but Melanie could see the concern she had in her doe brown eyes.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Elena said in a chastising tone. Clearly she was in her mother hen mood once again.

"Umm... a little over midnight?" Melanie said shrugging, making it sound more like a question.

"It's passed midnight, Mel! It's one o'clock!" She said vehemently at the younger Gilbert. "Why didn't you answer your phone? I called you like five times. Do you know how worried I was about you?"

Melanie sighed and ran a hand through her brown hair.

"Look I'm sorry I just wanted some time to myself okay?"

"What do you mean time by yourself ?" Elena said her eyes widening. "Did you seriously walk all the way back here from the boarding house? Do you know how dangerous that is? Not to mention the last time I saw you, you were with Rebekah."

Melanie let out an agitated huff, not liking what Elena was implicating about Rebekah. How many times did she have to tell her that the original blonde vampire was in no way a threat to her. If anything, tonight proved that to be true.

"Elena, I told you she's not gonna-"

"That doesn't matter, Mel." She said cutting her off as she walked over towards where she was standing. "I still don't trust her. I mean I know she didn't hurt you now, but what about later? Huh? You ever think about that?" She reprimanded her younger sister. "She's a vampire, not to mention a thousand years old, she can't be trusted."

Melanie scoffed, having enough of her sister's over-protectiveness.

"Yeah, right."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Elena said surprised by her sister's tone.

"Nothing, Elena. Look it's just that after you left Rebekah needed someone there for her, you know? After all, you did just walk in there and dropped all that information on her like a bomb. How did you think she was going to react?" She said sternly to her sister, inwardly hoping she would drop the subject already, knowing that if she insulted Rebekah one more time, she would probably loose it.

"I know I shouldn't have dumped all that information on her like that." Elena said blankly. "But she needed to know the truth about what Klaus was lying to her about. It was for her own good."

"Really? Her own good? " Melanie said furrowing her eyebrows. "Cause it sounds like you did it more for _your_ own good."

Elena gave her an incredulous look. "What? How could you say that? I told her because it was the truth. She had a right to know who killed her mother."

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with the fact that now she'll be on your side when it comes to killing Klaus." Melanie said crossing her arms giving her older sister a pointed look.

Elena sighed exasperatedly. "Well of course her knowing the truth will allow her to be on _our_ side, but that wasn't the only reason to why I told her, Mel." She said giving her younger sister a doleful expression. "You honestly think I would try to hurt her on purpose?"

Melanie took a deep breath, controlling the urge to snap at her sister. She loved her sister she_ really_ did, but sometimes she suffocated her to much with her protectiveness. She knew that one day she wouldn't be able to hold in that urge and would eventually lash out at her. But that wasn't going to be tonight. So she did what she did best and pushed down that urge until it was hidden deep enough, that she forgot about it or_—_at least tried to.

She softened her gaze towards her sister and sighed.

"No I know you wouldn't. It's just that I hated seeing her cry like that, it reminded me when I would cry about mom and dad. Seeing her so _broken_ like that brought back memories..."

"Oh, Mel." Elena said bringing her into a hug. "I'm so sorry."

Melanie put her head on her sister's shoulder and accepted her hug.

"It's okay." She replied meekly back to her.

"Why didn't you just tell me that?" Elena asked gently.

"I didn't really want to bring up the subject about mom and dad." She mumbled into her shoulder.

"Well like I said I'm really sorry." Elena said sincerely and let out a breath of relief. "Well at least now I know why you were so keen on staying with Rebekah. You just felt bad, that's perfectly understandable."

Melanie chewed her bottom lip out of nervousness and pulled away from the hug. "Yeah, that's the why I did it." She uttered, knowing deep down that wasn't the only reason as to why she comforted the vampire. But she in no way was gonna tell her older sister that or about the fact that she _liked_ touching the blonde vampire. Not to mention she had no idea how she was gonna tell her she agreed to go to homecoming with her.

"So uh I should probably go to sleep now." Melanie almost whispered, just wanting to end the conversation already. It had been a long night and all she wanted to do was to lay on her bed and hopefully have a peaceful dream that involved a certain blonde and her oceanic blue eyes.

"Yeah I should too." Elena said giving her a small smile. "Goodnight Mel."

Melanie tired smiling back, but it came out more like a grimace.

"Night, Lena."

She gave her older sister a finale wave before she climbed her way up the stairs and made her way towards her bedroom. Once she was inside she closed the door and went to sit on the edge of her bed. After a minute or two of just staring into the empty space in front of her she leaned back and laid down on her bed, closing her eyes she took a deep breath. Not caring that she was still wearing her day clothes, her sleepiness was now catching up to her, just as she was now ready to pass out.

The sound of her phone vibrating though caused her wake up, she absently reached for it inside her jean pocket and groaned. Who in the world would be sending her messages at this hour? She wiped the sleep away from her eyes and looked at her phone, reading the message that was displayed on the screen.

**Hey I know it's late, but I just wanted to make sure you got home alright. - Rebekah. **

As soon as she read the message, Melanie's sleepiness went away just as quickly as it came. She propped herself up from her bed and stared at her phone, rereading the message again. She couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face, all because of the message Rebekah had sent her. For some odd reason she liked that she sent a message asking her if she got home alright, letting her know that she cared for her well being.

Melanie quickly began texting, responding back to her message.

**Hey it's okay no worries, and yes I got home safe and sound. Thanks for asking :) - Melanie. **

She sent the message and immediately regretted sending the smiley face. What if she thought that was weird and her responses wouldn't be what she expected it to be...

Her phone vibrated again making her open and quickly read the message with eagerness.

**That good to hear, I just wanted to make sure nothing happened. - Rebekah. **

Although what Rebekah wrote was nice and heart warming, Melanie still felt sad she didn't return the smile...even if it was through the phone.

Just as she was about to put her cell phone on her desk it vibrated again, making her slide the screen to see what she had sent her.

**So did your darling older sister wait up for you? - Rebekah. **

Even through text messaging Melanie could practically hear the disdain the original vampire had for her older sister.

Melanie looked towards the door almost expecting Elena to walk in, but she shook her head and focused on responding back to Rebekah.

**Yeah she did, we had a late night discussion. - Melanie. **

She didn't even have to wait five seconds before Rebekah replied back to her.

**Hmmm I wonder about what. - Rebekah. **

Melanie playfully rolled her eyes, even though she knew Rebekah wouldn't be able to see her. She knew the vampire was using sarcasm, she wasn't that naive. Just like how Rebekah wasn't naive enough to know what kind of conversation Elena and her had.

**I think you already know the answer to that question. But it doesn't matter, its done. Anyways I'm glad I saw you today, even under the circumstances. Hopefully we can hang out soon, just the two of us. Perhaps before homecoming? - Melanie.**

She knew it was risky sending that but she had to ask even if it was through text. She just wanted to spend more time with her before homecoming, like maybe watch a movie or eat lunch together. It didn't matter as long as she was there. But after a few minutes of her not answering she began to feel a pit feeling in her stomach. Maybe she didn't want to hang out...maybe she changed her mind about Homecoming too...

Now what?

She felt like face palming herself.

Just as she was about to give up hope, her phone vibrated again.

**I would like that very much. How about later on today? - Rebekah.**

And just like that the pit feeling went away and was replaced with the butterfly feelings she felt from earlier. Melanie smiled at the phone and started texting back, her fingers practically shook with happiness.

**Sounds good, lunch and maybe go shopping? I still need to find a Homecoming dress. - Melanie. **

Which was true she needed to find one. All the dresses she had either didn't fit her or she just didn't like them anymore. Besides she wanted to look nice...

**You still need a dress? You should of told me before you left, of course will go shopping. Can't wait. - Rebekah.**

**Sorry kind of forgot, but I'll find one when were together. Night Bekah. :) - Melanie. **

She texted her another smiley not expecting her to respond back to her, but was shocked when she did and was even more surprised when she read what she had messaged her back with.

**See you later Mel, Goodnight :) - Rebekah. **

Melanie almost practically squealed when she saw the smiley face in the text message. She wrote one back! The giddiness returned and her face started to hurt from all the smiling she was doing, but she didn't care. Now her sleepiness was fully gone and was instead replaced with excitement, she couldn't wait until later on today. She just had to make sure none of her friends and family found out about it_—_especially Elena.

* * *

_**A/N: Hey guys! So I know this chapter is probably shorter than the others but that's because I really wanted to focus more on Melanie and Elena's sister relationship. As you can tell in this chapter Elena isn't liking how Mel is getting close with Rebekah and that will continue to play out throughout the story**, _**_especially when I start writing season 4. My story is not only just gonna focus on Mel's relationship with Rebekah but also with her family, since she will have to make difficult decisions later on and also when she comes out to them about her sexuality as well. I really hope you guys continue to read this story since I am putting my heart and soul in to it (: Btw if you guys haven't seen the finale for TVD for season six go watch it! It brought tears to my eyes. Anyways love you guys, have a wonderful day or a good night! And remember Relanie FTW! ;)_**


	8. Chapter 8: Dress Shopping

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. I only own my OC Melanie Gilbert.**

* * *

_"The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you." _

_Ritu Ghatourey_

_**Chapter 8: Dress shopping**_

The warm sunlight coming through Melanie's bedroom window had awoken her up a few hours later the following morning, after her late night texting with Rebekah. She yawned and lifted her arms over her head to stretch, with a shudder she released the tension she had in her muscles and sighed in content. Rubbing her eyes she took away the sleepiness they still had and then looked to her right, as her gaze landed to her alarm clock. It was barely 10 o'clock. She contemplated whether she should wake up now or go back to sleep, the sound of her phone vibrating though caught her attention. She picked it up from her dresser and noticed it was another message from Rebekah, with a smile she opened the text message and read it.

**Hey Mel, I hope you're up already and if you're not then wake up silly! Anyways meet me at the boutique near the grill in an hour alright :) - Rebekah. **

Melanie sent a message replying back to her saying she would meet her there. She quickly got of her bed seeing as she only had an hour to get ready and she wanted to make sure she didn't look like a complete mess. She looked at herself using her bedroom mirror and let out a gasp, she always did have terrible bed hair. It always ended up sticking up or just tangled in a huge clutter disaster. She grabbed her brush and tried brushing her hair out, after a minute of her doing that the results did not come out like she wanted_—_in fact her hair came out looking worse. _How is that even possible?_ She thought to herself before letting out an irritated sigh, she decided the next best option was for her to take a shower. Hoping that the shampoo and conditioner will control the tangled monster on her head known as her _'hair'._ It was moments like these that she wished she had her older sister's naturally straight hair, since it made everything so much easier for her. But no Melanie had gotten stuck with wavy hair, which wasn't so bad_—_except for when getting ready in the mornings.

After taking a fast hot shower, Melanie blow dried her hair and combed it and thankfully got rid of the tangles she had and managed to calm down the hair from the cluster mess it had been before. She walked to her closest and looked over her clothes having a hard time deciding on what to wear.

_Why does it even matter what I wear? It's not a date or anything...were just two friends hanging out... _

Melanie mentally scolded herself and made a hurry on choosing her outfit for the day. She picked out a pair of washed denim jeans, a flannel short sleeved shirt, and lastly her black colored converse. Once she threw on her clothes she went to the bathroom and quickly brushed her teeth before she looked into the mirror and stared at her own reflection. She sighed and ran a hand over her face, she rarely wore makeup unless it was for a special occasion_—_like say a dance. But even then she still had a hard time putting it on herself, of course she could always ask for Elena's help but she felt to embarrassed to ask...I mean a sixteen year old girl should be able to put on makeup on her own right? But she didn't... and that made her even more upset. This was another moment when she really needed her mom or her aunt Jenna to help her out, they were always there for her whenever Melanie needed advice like say makeup or just girl stuff in general. She really did miss them...

Swallowing the lump in her throat she composed herself and took a look at the mirror one last time, taking in her appearance making sure everything was alright. Once she made sure that everything was in order she grabbed her bag, wallet, and phone before she made her way downstairs.

Just as she was about to head out the front door the sound of her older brother made her come to a stop.

"Hey, Mel." Jeremy said from the kitchen. He was sitting down eating his breakfast along with Alaric and Elena. "You want some pancakes?" He asked his younger sister.

"You guys made pancakes?" Melanie asked in disbelief as she stared at the pancakes in wonderment.

"Well we tried." Elena said with a smile. "Ric, kept watch making sure we didn't burn down the house."

"Yeah which you guys came pretty close too." Alaric said with a joking smile before turning to look at Melanie. "But seriously come take a seat. They're actually pretty good."

Melanie bit her lip, contemplating the idea of staying. She really wanted pancakes...but she promised Rebekah she would meet her at the boutique and she didn't want to cancel on her much less stand her up. She turned to look at her family and shook her head.

"Thanks guys, but no thanks." Melanie said rejecting their offer politely.

"You're not hungry?" Alaric said with raised eyebrows, he found it strange that Melanie out of all people would turn down food, especially pancakes.

"Not really, anyways I have to go to the library." Melanie said nonchalantly, hoping they would believe her lie.

"This early?" Jeremy asked in between bites from the pancake he was currently eating.

"Well you know what they say, early bird gets the worm." Melanie said with a smile making her lie seem more real.

Elena though looked at her questionably. "What for?"

"French." Melanie answered her immediately with no hesitation in her voice. "We have to do a research paper about a historical French object and I chose the Eiffel tower. So I'm going to need as much research as I can get."

"Well that sounds interesting." Alaric said smiling while Jeremy nodded in agreement.

"Well are you sure you don't want to eat before you leave?" Elena asked her motioning towards her plate.

"No I'm good. I'll eat at the grill." Melanie lied smoothly again to her sister before making her way towards the front door.

"Wait Mel!" Elena's voice made her turn around. "Call if you need anything alright? And I mean anything." She said giving her younger sister a pointed look.

Melanie had the urge to roll her eyes but stopped before she could and instead gave her sister a forced smile. "Alright Elena." She said to her knowing that if she said no they would have another conversation much like the one they had last night and Melanie really didn't want that.

With that being said Melanie left her house leaving the Gilbert's and Alaric to enjoy their breakfast. Elena though let out a sigh and slumped back down on her seat, Jeremy and Alaric noticed this and gave her concerned expressions.

"You okay?" Alaric was the first one to ask.

"I'm fine it's just that..." Elena drawled on looking towards the door way.

"What?" Jeremy asked following her gaze.

"I don't know...I've just been worried for, Mel. I mean she's been getting really close to Rebekah lately and last night she didn't come home until one o'clock from the boarding house, and now she's leaving early to go to the library?" Elena said dubiously. "Don't you find that weird?"

"Well I'm not to keen on the idea of her spending time with Rebekah, but she hasn't done anything to hurt Mel. As far as I know I think she's really trying to befriend her." Alaric responded back to her.

"Okay well what about going to the library this early?" Elena said exasperatedly.

"Like she said, she needed to do research for an assignment." Jeremy said shrugging his shoulders.

Elena stared at her brother dumbfounded. "Are you not worried that our sister has befriended an original vampire." She said raising her voice at him.

"Of course I'm worried, Elena! I'm just not like you, who's constantly breathing down on her neck." Jeremy snapped back to his older sister. He knew how Melanie didn't like how Elena smothered her sometimes, and quite frankly he didn't either. He huffed before calming down his voice. "Anyways I've come to learn how to handle it from when you got Stefan and Damon involved into our lives."

Elena quieted down upon hearing this, not knowing what to say and instead focused on staring at her plate.

Alaric sensed the awkwardness and spoke up trying to ease the tension.

"Look, I know you're concerned Elena_—_in fact we all are, but maybe you should give Melanie some space, let her know you do trust her. She's a smart girl and we all know she wouldn't make bad decisions regarding her safety."

Elena just nodded her head stiffly, still having that feeling of uncertainty in her stomach.

* * *

Melanie walked down the street crossing the road getting to the other side. She looked down at her watch and saw that it was already 11:00 o'clock right on the dot, which meant Rebekah was probably already on her way or was inside the boutique shop. She walked in the shop, making the door ring when she entered. The sales person behind the counter gave her a friendly smile. Melanie returned the smile and glanced around the room trying to find Rebekah, but noticed no one else was here, which meant she hadn't arrived yet. She sighed and made her way to look at all the dresses that were in display.

She had no idea how in the world she was going to pick one. Whenever she went dress shopping usually it was with Elena, Caroline, or Bonnie and they always were able to help her choose one. Especially if she went with Caroline since she always told her opinions on the dresses she would put on. But now as she was standing around all these different kinds of dresses she started feeling overwhelmed. She thought this was going to be an easy task but clearly she had been wrong.

"Their just dresses, it's not like their goin to bite." A sudden familiar British voice caught her off guard. Melanie turned to her right side and saw Rebekah standing there with an amused grin. Melanie began to ponder when the blonde had arrived without hearing her but then remembered how she's a vampire and that their known to sneak up on people. So instead of reacting surprised, Melanie just gave Rebekah a simple smile.

"Hello Rebekah." She said before looking back at the variety of dresses. "And I know that it's just...I didn't think there would be so many to choose from."

Rebekah gave the brunette a smirk. "All the better." She said grabbing onto her hand and made her way to a rake that had several dresses hanging on it. The original vampire then began going through them looking back and fourth between the dresses.

Melanie stood next to Rebekah patiently waiting, as she was still holding onto Rebekah's hand. For some reason the blonde girl didn't let go of her hand but she wasn't complaining at all...

"Ahh here we go!" Rebekah's cheerful voice made Melanie drop her hand as she saw how Rebekah was holding onto a pink beige dress. She glanced at Melanie and held out the dress towards her. "Here, I think this one will look wonderful on you. Go try it on."

Melanie eyed the dress before taking it and turned around to face a mirror. The dress was beautiful, it was strapless with a sweetheart neckline, and it had flower design on the top. The dress was simple but elegant, something that Melanie liked. She wasn't much for dresses that stood out with the crazy designs so this dress was perfect. But the problem was that she didn't think she would look pretty in it. She shook her head, looking defeated, Rebekah though noticed this quickly and frowned.

"What's wrong, you don't like it?" Rebekah asked bemused as to why she hadn't gone into the dressing room to try on the dress.

"No I like the dress. I think it's beautiful." She answered Rebekah and then looked towards the floor sheepishly."I just don't think it'll look nice on me..."

Rebekah scoffed when hearing this. "You're kidding right?" She asked her but was met with complete silence. She stared at Melanie and noticed the serious face she had on, letting her know the youngest Gilbert wasn't joking. Leaving Rebekah completely stunned, she couldn't believe that Melanie thought she wasn't pretty enough to wear the dress. In Rebekah's opinion she thought Melanie was indeed beautiful and that she shouldn't feel less of herself.

"Melanie." She said using her full name, letting her know she was being serious. "Of course it'll look nice on you."

Melanie glanced back up and looked into her blue eyes. "How can you be so sure?"

"Call it an instinct." Rebekah said grinning before leading her into one of the dressing room."Now go try it on, I'll be outside waiting okay?" The original said before taking a seat in one of the benches.

Melanie nodded her head and closed the dressing room door and started changing out of her clothes to put on the dress. Once she had her clothes off she stepped into the dress and pulled it up so it covered her chest. Luckily she was able to zip up the dress herself_—_thanking God or whatever was out there in the universe that she didn't need to ask Rebekah for help, cause that would of been embarrassing.

She adjusted the dress and flattened both sides with her hands, thankfully the dress wasn't to short either as it went up just above her knees a little. Still though she was growing with nerves knowing now she had to get out and show Rebekah the dress. She started pacing around the dressing room trying to avoid going outside for as long as possible, but came to a stop when she heard Rebekah's voice.

"Melanie I can hear you pacing in there." Rebekah said and Melanie could practically see the amused smile on her face. "Just come on out."

Melanie let out a breath, knowing there was no other way to get out of this. Mustering all the courage that she could get she opened the dressing room door and walked out allowing Rebekah to see her in the dress.

Rebekah became silent when she saw her come out of the dressing room wearing the dress she had chosen for her. She looked...marvelous the dress fit her perfectly, the color of it complimented her skin tone not to mention the dress allowed her to show off her curves.

Melanie started to get anxious from the silence and spoke up. "Well?" She asked Rebekah who was staring intently at her.

Rebekah blinked a couple of times and stood up from her seat making her way until she was in front of her.

"Well, I was wrong." Rebekah said causing Melanie to give her a sad frown, before she continued to talk. "You don't look pretty...you look _beautiful_." She turned Melanie around to face the mirror again, and the brunette let out a gasp once she saw her own reflection.

"See I told you." Rebekah said beaming when she saw Melanie's surprised face.

Melanie gave her a smile. "Yeah, you did." She said turning back around to face her. "So I guess I found my homecoming dress."

"I would be highly disappointed if you didn't get it." Rebekah said with a smile and then looked down to her feet. "Ohh I almost forgot when you were changing I picked out some shoes for you." She went back to her seat and picked up a pair of black high heels, she walked over back towards Melanie and handed her to them. "Here try them on, I guessed your size so I hope they fit."

"You guessed?" Melanie said incredulously with raised eyebrows.

Rebekah rolled her eyes playfully. "Yes, once again I trusted my gut instinct, now stop jabbering and try the shoes on."

"Alright, alright." Melanie said chuckling putting on the shoes, which fit perfectly on her.

Rebekah stepped back to admire the her. "There! Now that's perfection."

Melanie scoffed and blushed. "I wouldn't call it perfection Rebekah."

"I would." Rebekah said to sincerely, giving her a warm genuine smile.

Melanie was now the one to become silent taking in the words she had just said. No one in her entire life has her called her or thought of her as 'perfect'. She bit the inside of her cheek as she tried cooling down her blush, which wasn't doing any help at all.

The sound of someone else opening the boutique's door made them gaze away from each other.

"I_—_uh—should go change." Melanie muttered making her way back towards the dressing room.

Rebekah just nodded her head and allowed her to pass by her, the original blonde vampire had no idea why every time she was with Melanie they would always ended up staring each other, but for whatever reason she didn't mind it at all. Maybe it was because for once in a hundred years she now had a real friend, one that she would be able to talk to, shop with, and most importantly count on to be there for her. All Rebekah ever wanted in her entire life was a friend, which unfortunately for her, she hadn't been able to have one. Running from her father didn't allow her to get close with anyone and the fact that her older brother daggered and left her in a box for nearly ninety years didn't help as well. But now that she was out she finally was able to find that one person who she had the privilege to call friend_—_Melanie, and she wasn't going to let anyone ruin this growing friendship.

After a few minutes Melanie got out of the dressing room and was now dressed back to her normal clothes. She grabbed the dress and shoes and made her way to pay for them before Rebekah put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it's already paid for." Rebekah told her.

"What do mean?" Melanie asked creasing her eyebrows.

"I already paid for it when you were trying the dress on." Rebekah clarified.

"You what?" Melanie said shocked. "Rebekah you didn't need to do that."

"Of course I did. You're my friend." Rebekah replied back to her in an obvious tone.

Melanie shook her head. "No you didn't, you shouldn't have wasted your money on me."

Rebekah laughed dryly. "Don't worry it wasn't my money but my darling older brothers." She said taking out the credit card in her hand.

Melanie stared at the plastic card Rebekah was holding, having a feeling this was payback for what her brother kept from her. Although it was nowhere near as bad as what Klaus did, Melanie knew she shouldn't question her. So she instead gave Rebekah a mischievous smile playing along with her. "Did your_ darling_ older brother also happen to pay for my shoes."

"But of course." Rebekah said to her with the same mischievous smile and glint in her eyes.

The two girls then left the boutique laughing together, with Melanie carrying her dress and the shoes, that Rebekah's older brother had _'generously'_ bought for her. Their arms brushed against each the whole time they were walking, with neither wanting to put distance between them, as they both each had a smile on their faces.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys so here's another chapter! As you can tell this is another filler chapter with more Melanie and Rebekah scenes this time :) I hoped you guys liked it, since the next chapter will be the Homecoming episode which means guess whose coming back? Hmmm ;) I have a feeling you guys already know who ( a certain original hybrid ;P). Also for the next chapter you think I should add a scene with Melanie confronting Mikael about the way he treated Rebekah? What do you guys think? Until next time my lovely readers! **


	9. Chapter 9: Homecoming

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. I only own my OC Melanie Gilbert.**

***Edited 6/1/2017***

* * *

"_It's often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone." _

_ Marilyn Monroe_

_**Chapter 9: Homecoming **_

After the whole shopping montage the girls went out to eat lunch at the grill. Melanie much to her relief didn't have to worry about being spotted by anyone, since the grill seemed to be pretty empty.

"So, what shall we get to eat?" Rebekah asked her, as she a seat across from her. She put her shopping bags on the floor next to her and then gazed back towards Melanie. "Or do you just want to get an order together and share?" She asked smiling.

Melanie put her bags to the side and returned the smile.

"You're willing to share your precious food with me?" She asked putting her hand on top of her heart while using a fake southern accent. "Why miss Mikaelson, that's so generous of you."

Rebekah eye's twinkled within the dim lights of the grill. "Well I'd only share with you, Mel."

Melanie face warmed up a bit hearing her use that nickname. She let her lips curve into a small meaningful smile. "Thanks, Bekah."

Rebekah just waved her off, but on the inside she was happy that she had used that nickname again. "Alright, so what do we both want?"She asked humming while browsing up and down the menu.

Melanie shrugged her shoulders. "Anythings fine, really."

"Well how about we get an order of curly fries and for dessert chocolate cake?" Rebekah suggested putting the menu back down onto the table.

Melanie rose an amused eyebrow up. "Chocolate cake huh? Never would have pegged you for a chocolate girl."

"And why would you think that?" Rebekah asked with the same of amount of amusement in her voice.

Melanie bit her bottom her lip. "It's just that with the figure you have, I would have thought you ate healthy or something..."

Rebekah quirked an eyebrow. "My figure?" She questioned before a slow sly smile appeared on her face. "Do you mean my body?" Seeing the young Gilbert's face become red from her flushing made her chuckle lightly. "Have you been looking at my body, Mel?"

Melanie's eyes widen. "No! It's not like that_—_I_—_I swear!" She stuttered in embarrassment. "It's just that when I see you practice for cheerleading it's kinda not hard to notice how..." She paused trying to find an appropriate word.

"Hard not to notice what?" Rebekah asked with a grin.

Melanie took a deep breath and blinked a couple of times. "Um...it's hard not to notice how fit you are..." Although she tried sounding serious with her answer in her mind she was thinking the complete opposite.

_Ugh! I'm such an idiot...fit? Really?! Was that the best I could come up with? _

As if she could sense the girl's struggle, Rebekah didn't make fun of her but instead gave her a kind smile. "Well thank you...I believe that is the first time someone has ever called me _fit_." She stared right back into her brown eyes. "I do like the compliment quite a lot." Rebekah said enjoying the moment they were having. She liked being around Melanie. The youngest Gilbert always made her forget about her family issues and instead made her feel like a normal teenage girl. She was like a candle...using her light to take away the darkness in her life. Which is all she ever wanted. For someone to take away the darkness and sadness that invaded her life. To find someone to be with...no betrayal or angst. Just _acceptance_.

The two girls after that stayed quiet and just kept staring into each others eyes. They didn't need to talk at all because their eyes said everything they needed to say to each other.

"Melanie?"

The youngest Gilbert turned to where she heard her name being called and froze...smile completely disappearing.

"Matt..." Melanie uttered in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, I work here." Matt said in an obvious tone giving her a faint smile. "Did you forget that?"

"No of course not...I just thought you weren't going to work today." Melanie said trying to end the awkwardness between them.

"I wasn't, but I got called in today. So..." Matt drawled on his gaze falling onto the shopping bags before looking back up towards the two of them. "You guys do some shopping?"

"Well, actually_—_"

"Actually, yes we did." Rebekah chimed in with a grin. "You know since homecoming is in a couple of days."

"Wait a minute..." He looked at Melanie in shock and glee. "You're going to homecoming?"

"Uh, yeah." Melanie uttered.

"Well that's a first." Matt commented, smiling. "Who you going with?"

"Um..."

"Me." Rebekah interrupted again. "She's going with me."

"Oh..." Matt said giving Melanie a 'r_eally_' face before coughing. "Well that's good, I guess. So you guys ready to order?"

Rebekah handed him her menu. "I believe we are."

"Okay, so what can I get you?"

"A order of large curly fries and a piece of chocolate cake." Melanie said also giving him her menu.

"Just one order of fries and cake?" Matt questioned with raised eyebrows.

"Hm." Rebekah said smiling.

"Yeah we're just going to share." Melanie said, not being able to ignore the look of suspicion he had on.

"Right..." Matt said writing down the order. "Anything to drink?"

"I think water would be fine. Right, Mel?" Rebekah asked her.

"Water would be great." Melanie replied back absently.

"Alright, I'll be right back with your order." Matt said finishing his writing. He gave Melanie one last glance before walking off.

Once Matt was out of sight, Rebekah turned her full attention back towards Melanie. "So_—_"

"Excuse me, I'll be right back." Melanie interrupted with a tight smile, getting up from her seat.

Rebekah got a puzzled expression on her face. "Okay..."

Melanie gave her an apologetic look before walking over to where Matt was over the bar counter.

He saw her walking over and stopped cleaning the glasses he was holding. "Hey Mel, your guys order should be coming right up."

"Great, but that's not why I came over." Melanie said shifting her feet.

"Alright, so what is it?" Matt asked.

"Can you please..." Melanie sighed and gave him pleading eyes. "Not tell anyone I was here with Rebekah."

At hearing this Matt furrowed his eyebrows. "What? Why? I mean, you guys are just hanging out. What's wrong with that?"

"I know its just that_—_"

"Wait a second. Nobody knows you're with her right now, huh?" Matt asked with realization in his eyes. "Not even, Elena?"

Melanie didn't have to answer his question since her face said it all.

"Seriously? Mel, if Elena finds out you're with Rebekah behind her back she's going to flip out." Matt said reprimanding her.

Melanie huffed. "I know! Which is why I don't want you telling her you saw me with Rebekah today. Please?" She asked, begging him. "Matt you know how overprotective she is...and besides me and Rebekah we're just friends. We're not doing anything bad and she's not going to hurt me."

Matt gave her a pointed look. "Are you sure?"

Melanie gave him a hard look. "Yes! For like the hundredth time she's not going to hurt me."

"That's not what I meant." Matt said crossing his arms.

"I don't understand." Melanie said scrunching up her eyebrows.

Matt sighed. "Mel, I've known you since you were a kid. You're like a little sister to me and never have I seen you hang out once with someone outside our social circle." He lowered his voice and softened his face. "I've never even seen you show interest in anybody. So are you sure you two are just friends?"

Melanie's mouth went slack jawed. "Are you seriously asking me this?" When she saw the serious expression he had on it took everything within her to not start panicking. She needed to calm down and tell him there was absolutely nothing going on. Because there wasn't...she had no keen interest towards Rebekah. She was just her friend that's all. But before she could calmly rationalize everything, she acted with out thinking. Pursing her lips she scowled at him. "What are you dull witted or something? Of course we're just friends! Gosh get your mind out of the gutter, Matt." She finished jeering at him. Once she took a second to relax she saw the look of hurt on his face, and she suddenly felt bad. How could she have done that? Once again her anger had gotten the best of her. She inwardly started yelling at herself. Matt was one of her best friends...and he was only looking out for her. He didn't deserve the attitude he was getting from her.

"Matt, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to_—_" She started apologizing.

Matt shook his head and shrugged. "Don't worry about it, it's fine."

Melanie didn't agree with him. "No it's not fine, Matt. I shouldn't have called you that." She gave him a downcasted look. "I just don't know what came over me...but I really am sorry."

Matt gave her a light-hearted smile. "It's okay, Mel. For real, no feelings were harmed."

Melanie let out a relieved sigh. "Alright...and Matt..."

"Yeah, Mel?" Matt perked up.

She had to ask this question. It was just eating her up.

"Why did you assume...that I...well you know..." Melanie stuttered out.

"Why did I assume your interest in Rebekah?" Matt said ending the question for her.

Melanie nodded. "Yeah..."

Matt sighed. "Well like I said Mel, I've known you for a long time now."

"Okay and?" Melanie urged on.

"Mel, I saw the way you were talking and looking at Rebekah and that's something I've never seen before." Matt told her and then got a far away look. "Not even when Caroline set you up on those dates." Matt suddenly chuckled at that memory.

Melanie groaned. "Gosh, don't remind me."

Matt grinned. "You never were one for dating huh?"

Melanie shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "I just haven't found the right guy..."

"The right guy, huh?" Matt muttered under his breath. "Well maybe the right _person_ is a lot more closer than you think." He said emphasizing on the word person. He leaned against the counter and gave her a smile. "So...you're going to homecoming with Rebekah?"

Melanie laughed nervously. "Yeah I am."

"How that happen?" Matt asked. "Because as far as I know you hate dances."

Melanie scoffed. "I don't hate dances..." She said defensively. "I just don't particularly like them."

"So then why are you going?" Matt asked amused.

"Because she asked me." Melanie replied to him and couldn't help but smile. "And I..."

"You want to go with her." Matt once again ended her sentence.

Melanie looked at him straight in the eyes and nodded. "Yeah I do."

"Well how does Elena feel about that?"

Melanie's mouth faltered.

Matt sighed. "She doesn't know about that either, huh?"

"No...she doesn't." Melanie said giving him a sheepish look. "Which is why I ask again that you don't tell her anything. Including that I was here."

"But Mel, I mean, she's going to find out sooner or later when you arrive at the dance with Rebekah." Matt informed her.

"I know, but let me worry about that later." Melanie said with a determined voice. "Until then I just want to have fun with my friend. So promise me you won't say anything. Please?"

"Okay then, I promise I won't say anything." Matt said with complete honesty.

Melanie looked relieved. "Thank you, Matt."

Matt nodded his head. "No problem...but you should probably head back to Rebekah." He looked back to where the original blonde vampire was sitting. "Don't want her thinking I took her date a way or something."

Melanie rolled her eyes at him. "It's not a date." She informed him but saw the smile still on his face. "Its not!" She said a little louder but not loud enough for anybody else to hear.

Matt held up his hands in a surrendering gesture as he started waking back towards the kitchen. "Whatever you say Mel." He finished saying with a tint of gaiety in his voice before he disappeared inside.

Melanie waited until he was fully gone before she made her way back to Rebekah.

"Sorry about that." She apologized taking her seat back right across from her.

Rebekah was quiet for a few seconds before she held her gaze back onto Melanie.

"Mel, I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that nobody knows you're with me." She said pausing before continuing. "Which means Elena doesn't know your here either, am I right?"

"Why would you think_—_" It was then her eyes went wide. She heard...she must have heard what she was talking to Matt about. Oh God, she felt like disappearing...that meant she heard _everything_. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "You overheard me and Matt..."

Rebekah shook her head. "Actually no I didn't."

Instantly Melanie felt relief. "Well then why ask that?"

Rebekah leaned forward. "Mel, I might have not heard what you two were talking about, but it was pretty obvious from when he first came to our table that he had no idea you were hanging out with me today. Let alone that the two of us are friends."

Melanie bit the inside of her cheek. "You're right..."

Rebekah looked slightly hurt. "So what? You didn't tell anyone you were going to spend time with me?" She had a frown on her face. "Are you...embarrassed or something?"

"Oh God no, I could never be embarrassed of you!" Melanie said vehemently before slumping in her chair. "It's just well I didn't tell anyone we were going to be together because they would have told Elena...and well you know how she is. I've tried telling her that you're not a threat towards me...but she won't hear it." Melanie fell silent for a few seconds before she talked again, with a much forlorn voice. "This was the only way I could spend time with you..."

At the mention of Elena, Rebekah's growled before she let out a sly smile."Well, what the doppelganger doesn't know, won't hurt her."

"So you're not mad?" Melanie asked warily.

Rebekah let out a huff. "Well I'm mad that we have to hide being friends, but I'm not mad at you. If anything I'm mad at your darling older sister." She scowled thinking about Elena. "But I'm not gonna let her ruin this friendship between us." She looked back towards Melanie's eyes and softened her voice. "Are you?"

Melanie's shook her head in protest. "No, of course not."

Rebekah let out a smile. "Good, so then we have nothing to worry about."

"No, I guess we don't." Melanie said returning the smile back.

It was that moment that Matt came back with their order. "Okay so we have an order of curly fries and chocolate cake." He set the food onto the table along with their drinks and glanced at the two of them. "Hope you two enjoy your meal." With that being said he gave him a short nod and smile before he walked back towards another table to take their order.

Rebekah watched him walk away and then gazed back towards Melanie. "You're not worried he's going to say something to your sister? From what I'm told he use to be sweet on her."

Melanie chuckled at that. "Sweet on her? If by that you mean they use to be together, then yeah they used to." She said thinking back to when Elena was with him before the break up and such. "But that was a while ago, they're just really good friends now. And to answer your question he's not going to tell her."

"Really?" Rebekah asked. "Why's that?"

"Because I asked him not to and he promised he wouldn't." Melanie replied back.

"And you trust him?"

"Yup." Melanie nodded and her eyes grew soft. "Matt's like an older brother to me. So when he promises me something, he always keeps it."

Rebekah smiled in relief. "Good."

"So it's just like you said. We have nothing to worry about." Melanie said grabbing a curly fry.

Rebekah at the same time she said that, reached for the same curly fry and their hands touched each others. She was taken back by the sudden warmness she felt but instead of taking her hand away she kept it there.

Melanie was also frozen in the same spot and moved her eyes from Rebekah onto their hands. She felt a spark go from Rebekah's hand onto hers and it left her breathless for a few seconds.

Once the initial shock was over, she quickly pulled her hand away. "Sorry..." She mumbled an apology, trying to look anywhere but at the blonde.

Rebekah composed herself as well and manged a smile. "No, it's uh, okay."

Melanie slowly moved her eyes back onto Rebekah's ocean blue eyes. She really did like her eyes...they were so mesmerizing. They had to be one of the most beautiful pair of blue eyes she's ever seen. She let her gaze focus onto her whole face and that's when she noticed something...she had freckles. Why hadn't she noticed this before? Faintly scattered all over her nose and cheek bones were light colored freckles. One could barely see them unless they were as close to her as Melanie was right now. Wanting a better look she leaned more forward in her seat and blurted the first thing that came to her mind. "So pretty..." She muttered, and then blushed realizing what she had just said.

Rebekah quirked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I meant your freckles are pretty." Melanie said waving off the comment. "I just realized that you have freckles."

Rebekah seemed to have some sort of pink tint on her cheeks.

"Um, thank you." Was it just Melanie or did Rebekah seem frazzled by her comment? Rebekah shifted in her seat. "Not that many people compliment me for that feature."

"What?" Melanie seemed surprised. "But freckles are so beautiful. I kinda envy that you have them." She said and then smiled. "I wish I had some. It would probably make me as beautiful as you."

Rebekah gave her a rebuked look. "Oh none of that nonsense talk. I already told you, you're beautiful the way you are." She told her and then gave her a fake pout. "All this self loathing is make me sad, and you don't want me sad. Do you Mel?"

Melanie let out a laugh. "No Bekah, I wouldn't want that."

Rebekah instantly perked up. "Good then no more crazy talk about you not being pretty, okay? Now let's move onto better topics like shall we?" And so they did.

For the rest of the time they were at the grill the two girls talked about homecoming and themselves. Melanie told her stories from she was a little girl on how she used to want to be a dancer before she found her true calling in photography. Rebekah listened to everything she said and felt completely interested and enthralled. The original had never listened to someone who was so into photography but with the way Melanie described the hobby she knew that she did love it a lot. Especially when she talked about going to France. She already knew that it was one of her biggest dreams to travel the world but she really wanted to go to France. She mentioned how she wanted to takes photos of the Eiffel tower and of the beauty that is Paris. Rebekah should know, she had been France many times...but that was years ago. Perhaps she should go again and take a plus one with her this time. That would be something that the youngest Gilbert would enjoy immensely.

"What about you?" Melanie asked her. "What do you like?"

Rebekah had to think about this question for while. Because honestly, she really didn't have an answer. What did she like? When she was a little girl_—_back when she was human, she liked to be near the flowers...they always made her happy. The smell and the way she saw them blossom in front of her eyes, brought her a sense of joy. And in a way Melanie reminded her of those times when she was with the flowers. Melanie herself in way was a flower...with the way her skin looked so soft as rose petals or the way she had this fragrance that reminded Rebekah of roses too. She really was as delicate as a rose as well. Actually e_verything_ about her seemed so delicate.

After a few more minutes of waiting to hear a response, Rebekah finally answered her. She looked up and Melanie saw the way her face lit up with one simple word she gave her. "Flowers."

And it was with that word that had Melanie blushing like crazy.

She of course had no idea what the significant meaning that word had behind...not knowing how connected she was to it.

* * *

After the two girls finished there food at the grill, Melanie once again thanked Matt and the both of them walked out. They spent about another hour or so just talking at the park. They reminisced some more on both their childhoods and talked about their families. Of course, when Rebekah talked about her's she got a little distant and closed off. But Melanie knew why...it brought her pain. So she did what she did best...she comforted her friend.

Rebekah was very thankful that Melanie was there again with her. The youngest Gilbert brought this serene feeling with her. It reminded her of the night when she broke down when Elena stormed into the boarding house. Thinking about that wench of a doppelganger had her seeing red...but then she remembered how she was in Melanie's presence and she instantly calmed down. She didn't know how the youngest Gilbert was able to calm her down this quick. She was known for her temper tantrums but strangely Melanie had the ability to lessen her anger. Which is something she wasn't complaining about.

Once the two of them finished their talking they realized that the sun was just about to set. It was already the afternoon and they both didn't even know. They had spent so much time talking to each other that they lost track of time.

Melanie of course was freaking out when she checked her phone and saw all the unread messages from Elena asking where she was. She apologized to Rebekah and said she needed to go home. Rebekah understood though. It wasn't her fault that her sister was a complete twat. So she said it was alright and watched as she took off towards her house.

Once she was out of sight, Rebekah continued to look at the sunset, admiring it's beauty. For being a thousand years old, one thing she could say for sure is that the sunset has never changed once in her life. She watched as the colors intensified and how the sun crawled down towards the horizon. The soft blues mixed with the deep purples hues and witnessed how they melted into the deepest back at the edge of the sky. The pinks clutched with the soft oranges and saw how the blended perfectly with one another...it really was a breath taking view.

She only wished that she wasn't watching this alone...

Looking at the now empty bench she felt a sense of desolateness with in her...

Because if there was one thing Rebekah Mikaelson hated...or better yet feared, was the thought of loneliness.

Utter complete loneliness.

Shaking her head she let those awful thoughts go away. She didn't need this...not right now.

So with that, she got up from the bench and walked off.

* * *

**Two days later**

A couple of days later and it was finally the day of the homecoming dance. And Melanie couldn't help but feel excited that it was finally the day of the dance. For the last two days she had spent more time with Rebekah. Of course it had been in secret. The two of them mostly spent time together in hidden areas where there wasn't many people. Matt had even helped out and informed Melanie when the grill was empty enough for the two of them, if they wanted to hang out there again. Which they did_—_multiple times. She really was happy and thankful that Matt was helping out. Those two days with Rebekah had been filled with laughter and smiles. She can't even remember when was the last time someone had made her this happy before.

When they couldn't hang out together, they communicated by texting each other and Melanie enjoyed that very much. She especially liked sending Rebekah the emoticons with the winky faces. She felt even more giddy when she got one back from her as well. Things really were going great for the two of them.

That morning Melanie had woken up early and headed to the kitchen to make coffee.

She was already drinking her second cup of coffee when she saw Elena enter the kitchen.

"Morning, Lena." Melanie chirped at her. "Care for some coffee?"

Elena shook her head. "No thanks Mel. I actually need you to come with me."

"Where to?" Melanie asked furrowing her eyebrows.

"The boarding house." Elena said seriously.

"Why?" Melanie questioned.

"We figured out a way to kill Klaus." Elena replied back to her.

Melanie almost dropped the mug she was holding but luckily she composed herself before she could.

"I'm sorry, did you just say you know a way to kill Klaus?"

Elena nodded her head. "That's exactly what I said."

"But how?"

Elena made move to grab her arm. "I'll explain when we're at the boarding house."

"Elena, wait hold on." Melanie said getting away from her hold, and put her mug on the counter before she turned to face her again. "Why exactly do I have to go?"

"Because we might need you to encourage Rebekah."

"What? Why would I need to encourage her?" Melanie asked and then narrowed her eyes at her sister. "I thought you wanted me far away from her as possible? What, now that you need something you ask me to talk to her?" She held a scowl on her face. "Why the sudden change?"

Elena sighed. "Look just forget what I told you about staying away from for just now, okay? We've found Mikael."

"What?" Melanie choked out. "You mean Stefan and Damon actually found him?"

"Well its more like he found them but the point is that he's here." Elena clarified.

"And what he agreed to help you guys kill Klaus?" Melanie asked incredulously. "Elena! Remember what Rebekah said, he's not trustworthy! I mean, what kind of person who kills his own children is trustworthy? Are you really willing to work with him?"

"If it's to finally kill Klaus, then yes." Elena answered deadpanned. "I'm willing."

"I can't believe this." Melanie muttered in disbelief.

"Look, I understand if you think this sounds crazy because believe me it does." Elena said trying to appeal to her. "But I really need you on this one, Mel." She gave her little sister a pleading look. "Stefan and Damon are already informing Rebekah of this idea, but I know if you were there to encourage her she would for sure be on our side. So please...will you help?" She stared at Melanie and saw the look of apprehension she had on. Knowing she had her close she decided to make the final move. "Think about it Mel, if this works out our lives could be back to normal again."

Melanie sighed and closed her eyes. That's when Elena knew she had her convinced.

"Alright, I'll go." Melanie said reluctantly.

Elena gave her a smile. "Great! Come on."

* * *

It wasn't much later that both girls were now at the boarding house. Once they entered inside Damon told Melanie that Rebekah went into Stefan's room after they explained the plan to kill Klaus. Melanie reluctantly nodded her head and made her way towards the blonde original. She hesitated slightly when she was outside the bedroom door but after a few seconds of breathing she knocked.

She didn't even have to wait ten seconds before the door abruptly opened.

Rebekah immediately let out a sigh of relief when she saw her. "Mel." She then got a puzzled expression on her face. "Wait, what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you." Melanie said. "May I come in?"

Rebekah opened the door more for her. "Of course, come in."

Melanie walked over towards the bed and took a seat.

"So what is it you need to talk about?" Rebekah asked her taking a seat right next to her.

Melanie decided to be blunt and tell her straight forward.

"I know about the plan to kill Klaus." Melanie said and waited for her reaction.

Almost immediately Rebekah's face fell. "Oh you do." She replied back dryly. "Is that why you're here, to convince me?"

"I'm not going to lie to you, Rebekah." Melanie said to her. "That's exactly why they brought me here."

Rebekah shook her head. "Unbelievable."

"But..." Melanie interrupted. "I'm not going to do that."

Rebekah's face scrunched up. "You're not?"

"No of course not." Melanie said turning to face her better. "Rebekah, you are my friend and the only reason I told Elena I would was because I wanted to see you." She sighed and gave her a sad look. "I know you're probably going through a lot right now, and I figured you could use a friend."

Rebekah nodded. "I do..."

"That's why I'm here."

Rebekah's eyes soften. "But Mel, what do I do?"

Melanie stared into her eyes and gave her a comforting look. "I don't know, Rebekah. I can't tell you what to do in this sort of situation. But what I can do is be there for you the whole step of the way."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Rebekah nodded her head. "Alright, I know what I have to do." With that being said she got up from the bed and held her hand out to Melanie. The brunette gladly took her hand and they both went out the bedroom door.

Making their way down the stairs, they let go of each others hands once they were close to the living room where everyone else was waiting for them.

They entered the room and everyone waited to see what Rebekah's response to their plan was going to be, and they were all inwardly relieved when the original blonde gave him a simple curt nod.

It was then that Melanie noticed the body of an older man laying on the floor with a dagger on his back.

She was about to ask who that was when Rebekah beat her to it.

"That's Mikael." She said crudely. "Otherwise known as my father."

So this was the man Rebekah held so much hatred towards. Melanie got a better look at him and even though he was covered with the grey veins, she could still see the resemblance between him and Rebekah. "You guys daggered him?" Melanie asked, looking back up towards the group.

"Don't you worry baby Gilbert." Damon reassured her. "It's all apart of the plan." He looked over towards Stefan. "Now onto the next part."

Stefan nodded and pulled out his phone, dialing a number as they all waited in complete silence.

"Portland is fantastic once you get can get over all the whiny music and healthy-looking people." Melanie heard a British voice over the phone, instantly recognizing it as Klaus'. "It's literally a breeding ground for werewolves."

"Your father's dead." Stefan replied back to him, emotionless.

The line was silent for a second, before Klaus responded back.

"What did you say to me?" He glowered.

"Oh, my mistake. Not your actual father, and not dead. Mikael." Stefan clarified. "Daggered. What do you want me to do with the body?" He asked him.

"Well, first, I want you to explain to me exactly what happened." Klaus demanded, and listened as Stefan told him the lie about Rebekah going after Elena. Melanie was inwardly freaking out. What would happen if Klaus didn't fall for this trap?

Luckily though the plan seemed to have worked, after she heard his response.

"I want to see him. I want to see his rotting body for myself." Klaus seethed in anger, and Melanie could tell his patience was wearing thin.

Stefan glanced over towards Mikael's daggered body.

"Well, he's here. Come by whenever."

"If you're lying to me, Stefan, your compulsion will expose you." Klaus hissed. "So answer with your life. Is what your saying the truth?"

"It's true." Stefan replied. "I saw it with my own eyes."

"I want to talk to Rebekah." Klaus suddenly demanded.

"That's not a problem." Stefan said, looking over his shoulder. "She's right here." He made his way towards the blonde original and handed her the phone.

"Hello, Nik." Rebekah answered, her voice filled with confidence.

"Rebekah, love. What's this I hear about Mikael's tragic run-in with a dagger?" Klaus asked his younger sister, knowing she wouldn't lie to him.

Rebekah took a second before she answered, taking a glance at Melanie, who gave her an encouraging nod.

"It's true." She replied. "He's finally out of our lives for good." There was a brief pause before she spoke again, in a much lower voice. "I miss you. I'm miserable here."

"And here I thought you had the littlest Gilbert there to distract you." Klaus said in an amused tone. "I mean, with you telling me how you two have been spending so much time together."

Everyones eyes shifted onto the original and Melanie. Making the brunette slightly self-conscious since she could practically feel Elena's eyes burning a hole in her head.

"Yes, well that doesn't matter. I miss you more." Rebekah said, ignoring everyones stares.

"I'll be home soon." Klaus said in a promising voice.

"Good. I'll see you then brother." Rebekah said and then hung up the phone, giving it back to Stefan. "He bought it. He's coming home."

Melanie watched her leave the room, letting out an aghast sigh she quickly followed her. The brunette found her in Stefan's room again sitting on the edge of his bed with a unreadable expression on her face. Melanie walked slowly, taking a seat next to her. She turned around to face her. "You okay?" She asked her softly, not knowing how she was going to react to that question.

There complete silence before Rebekah finally turned to look at her. "Honestly...I don't know." She answered in forlorn tone. "I mean, I love and hate my brother with equal measure, but I never thought I would be the one who would actually take a part in daggering him..." She choked out.

Melanie took her hand in a gentle hold, squeezing it lightly."Hey...I'm here for you remember." She said staring into her light blue eyes. "You don't have to be alone in this."

_Don't have to be alone. _

Melanie's touching words echoed through Rebekah's mind. She didn't have to be alone anymore...

Rebekah let a smile appear on her face before she launched herself into Melanie's arms, bringing her into a tight-fitting hug.

Melanie was stunned for a few seconds, but she quickly returned the hug back. She let her arms envelop the blonde original vampire, and let herself enjoy the essence that was known as Rebekah.

"Thank you..."

Melanie's ears perked up when she heard Rebekah mumble those two words to her. She pulled back from the hug, but Rebekah kept her hands on Melanie's shoulders, as the brunette got a better look at blonde's face.

And that's when Melanie saw a single tear run down Rebekah's cheek. The brunette lifted her hand and gently wiped the tear away, giving the blonde a small smile in return as she let her touch linger on her cheek for a few seconds.

Even after she took her hand away from her face, Rebekah still kept staring at her in awe. Her blue orbs were staring right into Melanie's bright brown eyes, not wanting to break away the contact they held with each other.

Melanie though was the first one to move away slightly when she remembered something. "I, uh, brought you something."

"You did?" Rebekah asked in complete curiosity wondering what she brought her.

"Yeah, I really wanted to help you prepare for homecoming but I know nothing about make-up and stuff. So I settled for the next best thing." She reached into jean pockets and took out a small bottle of red nail polish. "Here, I figured red would go with your dress."

Rebekah smiled and took the nail polish. "Thank you...that's very kind of you."

Melanie shrugged. "It's nothing really."

"Well it is to me." Rebekah said her smile never faltering "It means a lot, so thank you."

"No problem." Melanie said liking the fact that she made her smile again.

Rebekah glanced back towards Melanie and gave her a sheepish look. "Hey, Mel you think...that maybe you can stay with me? It's just I don't want to be alone when _he_ wakes up." She admitted shyly.

Melanie did have to ask who she was talking about because she knew. So without any hesitation she answered her. "Of course, Bekah."

Rebekah gave her a thankful smile in return.

"Melanie?"

Her sister's voice caught the youngest Gilbert's attention. Turning her head Melanie saw Elena leaning against the door.

Rebekah instantly glared at her, but Melanie simply furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yes, Elena?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Elena asked.

"Alright." Melanie said shrugging her shoulders.

Elena glanced at Rebekah before giving her younger sister a pointed look."Alone."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I was just about to go to the living room anyways. So go ahead talk. I'll leave you two alone." She said getting up from the bed. She gave Melanie a smile and made sure to scowl at Elena one last time before she left.

Once she knew the original was out of sight, Elena closed the door and made her way to stand in front of Melanie and crossed her arms. "Melanie..."

Melanie simply huffed, knowing she was about to get lectured, She recognized Elena's scolding voice by now. "What, Elena? Aren't you happy that Rebekah agreed to help?"

"Of course I am but that's not why I need to talk to you about."

"Okay, then what do you want to talk about?"

"It's about what Klaus said."

Melanie felt her blood go cold.

She remained calm on the outside though, not wanting to give her sister a reaction. So she played the innocent role.

"What do you mean?"

Elena sighed. "About Rebekah and you... have you been seeing her behind my back?"

Melanie scoffed at this. "Right, sure Elena."

"I'm not dumb Mel, okay?" Elena frowned at her. "It makes sense on why you've been so MIA lately. It's because of her, right?"

Having enough of this, Melanie rose a challenging eyebrow. "Alright, so what if I have? Huh? What then?"

Elena's eyes widen. "What then? Are you serious? Mel, she's_—_"

"A what?" Melanie interrupted, pursuing her lips. "A vampire, an original? Well, Elena I think we all know that by now."

"So then it's true...you have been hanging out with her." Elena said in full on accusation.

Melanie sighed, knowing she couldn't hide it anymore. "Yes, okay we have. In fact I'm just going to plain out say it_—_we're friends."

Elena shook her head in disappointment. "Mel_—_"

"No, Elena. I don't want to hear it. I'm sick and tired of you saying how Rebekah is going to hurt me and so on. Well news flash Elena, she's not! These last past couple of days I've been with her has proven that." Melanie said, looking straight into Elena's eyes. "She's my friend and I'm her friend too. And you know what? I don't care if you approve or not." She lowered her voice. "I really don't."

With that being said, Melanie walked out of Stefan's room, leaving Elena with an open mouth and a full on shocked face.

* * *

After her brusque talk she had with Elena, Melanie feeling better with herself made her way back to the living room. Once close enough to the room, she saw the body of Mikael laying on the floor.

"The dagger is out, so he should be waking up soon." Rebekah said from the couch she was sitting at. Melanie smiled when she saw the blonde original using the nail polish she had given her.

Rebekah paused in mid-nail and looked up towards Melanie. "I heard." She said and saw Melanie scrunch up her eyebrows in confusion, so she continued to talk. "What you said to Elena, and I'm glad we don't have to hide being friends anymore." Rebekah said, with a smile. "I'm happy you finally told her."

Melanie took a seat next to her. "I am too." She turned, looking right into her crystal blue eyes and felt as if she were swimming in them.

The sudden in take of a sharp breath made both girls eyes move to the original who was now waking up.

Melanie stared at Mikael dubiously, while Rebekah simply gave him a look of utter hatred.

"Finally." Rebekah hissed. "Took you long enough."

Mikael's eyes went over towards the girls and they widen in surprise when he saw his daughter. "Rebekah."

"Rebekah merely rolled her blue orbs when she heard him say her name. "Whatever fatherly rubbish you're thinking, save it." She lowered her voice, full with disdain. "Nothing you say matters to me."

Mikael looked solemn, but nodded his head. "I see...where is my dagger?"

Of course he would ask for the dagger. Rebekah once again rolled her eyes, this time gritting her teeth. She knew her father all too well. All he ever really cared about was himself. "Elena has it so you can forget your plans to use it on me." She finished saying, narrowing her eyes at him now.

Mikael gave her a pointed look. "You were never the one I was after."

Rebekah abruptly got up from her seat, momentarily startling Melanie. "Nik, was my family. If you were after him, you were after me."

Melanie could hear the defensive tone, Rebekah had. She really did love her brother...

Mikael shook his head."He blinded you, Rebekah! He killed your mother!"

Rebekah at this point had tears glistening in her eyes. "I know what he did, and he'll pay for it with his life. But Nik was not born a killer-none of us were!" Her voice was now cracking, and a few escaped tears went down her face. "You did this to us when you turned us into vampires!" Rebekah took a deep breath before she glared at him. "You destroyed our family. Not him."

"Rebekah_―_" Mikael said, but the blonde original wasn't hearing him and instead walked out of the room. She stopped though when she noticed Melanie wasn't following her.

"Mel?" Rebekah called her name confused as to why she still stood in the same place.

"I'll see you later, Bekah." Melanie, said not taking her eyes off Mikael.

"But_―_" Rebekah started but got interrupted.

"Don't worry." Melanie said with reassurance. "I'll see you at the dance."

Rebekah wanted to protest. There was no way in bloody hell she was going to leave her in a room alone by herself with her father. But with one look at Melanie, Rebekah knew she could handle herself. Besides she would be close by, listening closely making sure she was okay and unharmed. So with a stiff nod and a faint smiled towards Melanie, she left the room.

Leaving Melanie alone...with Mikael. Deep down she knew this was a stupid move...but she had to do it. For Rebekah. Because this man brought her best friend into tears. She had to let him know that what he had done to a Rebekah was wrong. It was wrong for him to do that to her...his own daughter.

Melanie cleared her throat, causing Mikael's attention to go on her.

The original scrutinized his eyes, taking her in. She was human. That he could tell by the heart beat he could hear. The question though was, who was this human girl? Why did she want to be alone to him? Most importantly why was she so close to his daughter?

It took a few seconds, but he put the missing pieces together. He remembered the details about the doppelgangers life. Apparently she had a younger brother and sister. The girl must have been her sister, since he could see the slight similarities.

He continued to look, studying her thoroughly. That was until she cleared her throat again, more louder and forceful.

Mikael's response was a quirked eyebrow. "What?" He said, his voice not necessarily rude, but it wasn't very nice either.

Melanie didn't know if his absent tone was good or not. But with her sudden braveness, she didn't dwell on it for long. "If you think Rebekah's going to forgive you she's not."

Mikael was taken back by the young girl's words. Not only that but the fact that she was standing up to him-a thousand year old original was...surprising to say the least. He couldn't help but think if she had a death wish. Still, he indulged in the conversation. Mostly for entertainment of course, but a small part of him was interested in where she was going with this? He spoke again. "Oh, really?" He answered in a dismissive tone, but was really in the inside quite intrigued. "And why is that?"

Melanie's face became hard. "Because you hurt her. You ruined the life she had. The life she wanted. But the one thing you ruined that she loved the most was her family." She shook her head in disappointment."You weren't the father she or her siblings deserved."

At this point Mikael looked at the girl with a scowl. "You know nothing of my family, girl."

Once again Melanie shook her head. "That's were you're wrong, because I do. While you were locked away in that tomb rotting, I was here with your daughter. I listened and comforted her. I was being a friend. I showed her kindness. Which is something that you never did." She looked at him, vehemently. "You never were a real father to any of your children, were you?"

"Silence!" Mikael roared, having enough of her words. He couldn't have a pity little human like her tell him how bad of a father he was. She knew nothing. He narrowed his eyes at her. "I suggest you leave now, girl."

Melanie without showing any outer fear simply gave him an unreadable expression, as she walked towards the front door. But before she stepped out she glanced over her shoulder. "You know, I didn't have to hear an actual answer for that question. The anger in your eyes said it all." With that being said the youngest Gilbert left the boarding house, leaving behind a now silenced original who was taking everything the young unimpressive human girl had just told him. And no matter what, he couldn't help but agree to some point on what she brusquely called him out on.

* * *

Rebekah was once again in Stefan's room, and luckily for her the doppelganger was no longer there. But right now to her that wasn't exactly the biggest thing on her mind. No not at all, but Melanie was.

She heard everything...

So to say she was shocked was an understatement, because she was. But it was more than shock that ran through her. She felt adoration too, and appeasement filled her thousand year old heart as well. Melanie's words in which she used to stand up to Mikael were brave. _She_ indeed was brave. This extraordinary human being, that she had the luck to befriend, stood up for her and called out Mikael for his flaws. And yet somehow she had managed to come out of it without even being harmed? Rebekah thought for sure she was going to have to intervene but...she didn't have to. It turned out Melanie had control of the entire conversation, and in the end she left with out a single scratch and left a very quiet original behind. Truth be told, she had left two shocked originals behind. Mikael and herself. Because what Melanie did took courage, and that whole scene she just heard, made it clear how much courage the youngest Gilbert had,

Since meeting Melanie, Rebekah had already felt a strange connection towards her, but after hearing the conversation she just had with Mikael it was safe to say that whatever feelings the blonde original was gaining on the human were just amplified and made stronger. Rebekah per-say didn't exactly know where these so called feelings were coming from, but all she knew was that she cared about Melanie and she knew for a fact that Melanie cared for her too.

Maybe after years of looking for a close friend things were finally going her way. She sure hoped so, because with the plan that was going to happen tonight, involving killing her brother...well she knew she was going to need a shoulder to lean on and she wanted more than anything for that shoulder to be Melanie.

Just thinking about the plan though made her sad. Rebekah didn't want to kill her brother...she loved Nik. Except, she knew that it was the right thing...still deep down she couldn't help but feel guilty. The guilt was eating her up. So Rebekah did the one thing that would take away the guilt...she thought about Melanie.

And just like that the guilt was slowly going away. Not all of it but enough for her to have some control. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down. She really didn't want to have these distracting thoughts about how she was going to betray her brother in her head. So she instead focused on the dance and getting ready. Smiling briefly she glanced down at her now full painted nails.

_Yeah_. She needed to get ready. For herself and for Melanie.

So with a now clear mind and a better control on her emotions, that's exactly what Rebekah did. She started getting ready, preparing to go to her first high school dance, with Melanie.

* * *

In the other side of the boarding house, Elena and Damon were in Damon's bathroom preparing weapons such as, vervain grenades, wolfs-bane grenades, stakes, and so. All ready for them to for tonight's plan.

"We can't trust Rebekah not to turn on us." Elena suddenly said to Damon.

Damon scoffed. "Oh, really? Because these original vampires are usually so reliable." He quipped, sarcasm clear in his voice.

"Rebekah may be mad at Klaus now but, he is her brother." Elena sighed and looked towards Damon. "We can't count on her to stay mat at him forever. After all he is her brother..."

"His lying mama killing, dagger happy brother." Damon added jestingly, looking at the grenade he had in his hand. "Wolfs-bane's ready."

Elena just shook her head. "There are too many things that can go wrong with this plan." She paused and saw him pouring the liquid into the grenade. "Too many people that can make it go wrong..."

Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "Like who?"

Elena gave him a look of reluctance and sighed. "Well if we take out Rebekah, Melanie can't know...she'll intervene." She pursued her lips thinking about how the blonde original had managed to befriend her baby sitter. Anger started to form in her stomach, not liking the fact that Melanie was now so close to Rebekah. It was wrong, and unsafe. Elena didn't care about how times Melanie had told her Rebekah was not harmful, because to her she was and she especially didn't want her baby sister to be anywhere near her.

"Don't worry." Damon said when he saw the expression she was wearing. "I'm formulating a secret contingency plan."

Elena's interest peeked. "Really?" Her eyes lit up. "What is it?"

"Well if I told you then it wouldn't be a secret." Damon retorted back to her in a whisper, glancing over his shoulder to see Stefan entering the room.

"I need to borrow a tie." Stefan asked nonchalantly.

"You have your own ties." Damon retorted back to him in annoyance.

Stefan shrugged his shoulders, indifferently. "I'm 162 years old and I'm going to a Homecoming dance." He argued. "I need better ties."

"You could not go." Elena suggested pouring wolfs-bane into the grenade.

"I'm compelled to protect you. And if I look at your track record at high school dances, it's pretty tragic." Stefan said with a grin. "My luck you'll go ahead and get yourself murdered by the Homecoming queen." He sneered.

Elena gritted her teeth, ignoring Stefan's taunts and picked up a grenade. Almost immediately, Damon stopped her.

"I know how to do it." She argued. "Alaric taught me."

Damon swatted her hand away. "Elena, if this thing blows up in our faces just remember only one of us heals quickly." He mused, taking the grenade away from her.

Stefan groaned seeing the weapons they had over the bathroom counter. "Ugh, please tell me you have a better plan than wolfs-bane grenades."

Damon didn't look at him, as he replied back. "Never you mind brother." His voice firm and steady. "The less you know the better."

"My freedom from Klaus rests entirely upon you two executing your plan perfectly." Stefan retorted. "So excuse me if I'm a bit cynical."

Elena gave him a hard accusing look. "You're the one that we should be worried about. If Klaus asks you one wrong question, then the whole thing falls apart."

"You do have a reason to worry." Stefan said, giving her a pointed look. "But if I look back at our history of epic plan failures, its usually because one of us let our humanity get in the way." He pressed his lips together. "If I'm taking odds on how this thing goes down, its certainly not gonna be me who screws it up." Stefan made his way to leave the room, but glanced back to give Elena a smirk. "I'll see you at Homecoming. I can't wait." He gave both Elena and Damon a wink, finally leaving the room.

* * *

After leaving the boarding house, Melanie had gotten a text message from Caroline asking her to come over to the high school to help paint the cars for the dance. So with having some time to spare, Melanie agreed to help out. Which she was doing right in this moment, standing next to Tyler covering the car in glitter.

Caroline came over to the pair and smiled. "Hey can one of you pass me the glitter gun?" She asked, and Tyler was the one who handed it to her. "Thanks."

"Hey can't we ditch the decorating and grab a bite?" Tyler asked Caroline with a grin.

"And what? So you can ditch me to do all the glittering?" Melanie asked wryly.

Tyler gave her a playful shove on her shoulder and chuckled. "Well yeah."

The brunette pushed back and laughed.

Caroline saw their antics and smiled. "No one will be ditching." She reprimanded them lightly and then glanced towards Tyler. "I have a thermos in my bag."

Apparently the answer wasn't good enough because almost immediately Tyler protested. "I mean a real bite. Rebekah knows some people who like to be fed on." He grinned. "They're into it. We don't even have to compel them."

At the mention of Rebekah, Melanie perked up her head. "Wait...she does?"

Tyler nodded while Caroline face scrunched up.

"Okay, first of all, I finally just got your mom to stop hating on me. So I probably don't wanna get caught in some weird vampire threesome with her son." Caroline paused and narrowed her eyes at him. "And secondly, quit hanging out with Rebekah the evil blood slut."

"Hey! Don't call her that!" Melanie said in a defensive tone. She froze when she saw the way they were looking at her in complete confusion. Startled with herself, Melanie lost a little of her confidence and tried to push the out burst to the side. "I mean, let's not call people by such vulgar names..."

It took a few seconds but they slowly got back to themselves.

Tyler nodded his head. "Mel's right. So just keep the claws in tonight at the dance, okay? For me?" He asked Caroline with a charming smile.

Caroline rolled her eyes but complied. "Speaking of the dance..."She said moving her eyes back onto the youngest Gilbert. "Who you going to the dance with Mel?"

Melanie paused her movements, surprised with her question and turned slowly to look at Caroline. "Oh, well uh_―_"

Seeing her stutter made Caroline's eyes lit up in excitement. "If you don't have a date yet I know the perfect guy that could take you! His name is_―_"

Melanie didn't let her finish that sentence because she in no way was interested in any guy she had in mind. "I have a date already." She blurted out.

Caroline's eyebrow creased. "You do? Who?"

"Someone." Melanie said vaguely and waved her hand, trying to make the conversation seem like _'whatever'_.

But Caroline was in no way letting the conversation go. "Well this _someone_ has to be pretty important since you're going to the dance with them." Caroline said in elation. "So who is he?" She urged on.

Not a he...but a _she_. Melanie though didn't correct her, and once again disregarded to give her a proper answer to her pending question.

Caroline pursued her lips but eventually gave her a teasing smile. "Fine be all secretive, but I am going to find out eventually."

"Yeah, you and everybody else." Melanie muttered before she continued to glitter the car.

"Wait!" Caroline yelled suddenly. "It's not Matt is it?"

Melanie gave her a look that said, _Are you for real? _"No! Why would you think it was Matt?"

Caroline merely shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I just see you two being together."

Melanie shook her head. "No that would be weird since he dated my sister. Also not to mention he's like an older brother to me."

"I don't know you two would make a cute couple." Tyler said fatuously and held in his laughter when he saw the look of horror Melanie had on.

"Ugh, no." Melanie said making a disgusted face.

Tyler chuckled. "I'm just kidding, Mel. Anyways, if anything I see Matt being with Rebekah."

Melanie gave him a hard look. "Why would you think that?"

"Yeah?" Caroline said glowering at him.

Tyler shrugged his shoulders. "Because Rebekah's hot. Also he drinks vervain, so if he were to take her to the dance it wouldn't be a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Caroline hissed at him. "Matt is an innocent, good person who shouldn't go to dances with evil blonde sluts like Rebekah."

Melanie held in the urge to yell at Caroline again, once she heard her call Rebekah by that vulgar term.

Tyler didn't look affected by what Caroline said. "Matt's a guy Caroline and Rebekah's a girl. Don't over think this."

Caroline gave him an accusing look. "This is a sire thing isn't? Please tell me this is some weird family extension of your sire bond to Klaus!"

Tyler just gave her a smirk. "I'm here hanging streamers and I have glitter all over my hands. If I'm sired to anybody it's you."

Melanie nodded her head. "Besides from what I heard Rebekah already has a date so you have no reason to worry."

Caroline scoffed and rolled her eyes. "And whose the lucky guy that gets to spend his night with her?"

Melanie faked innocence. "I don't know...guess you'll have to wait and see."

* * *

Back in Stefan's room, Rebekah was almost done getting ready for the dance. Looking at herself in the bedroom mirror, she fixed her curled hair and put in place, and let a smile spread across her face.

A sudden voice brought her back to reality.

"Getting a head start, huh?"

Rebekah turned and saw Elena leaning against the doorway. The original instead of giving her the usual glare or scowl, just nodded her head. The excitement of going to the dance with Melanie was running through her. Which meant that nothing would ruin this night for her.

Elena decided to make small talk. "That dress looks really pretty on you." She said coming closer and she forced a smile. "The color suits you."

Too in the moment to see her false kindness, Rebekah smiled. "Yes, well I have your sister to thank for that. After all she did pick out the dress."

Elena forced herself not to frown from hearing this. She needed to focus to make sure she acted friendly towards Rebekah. She needed to earn her trust to get close enough towards her.

"Yeah, well Melanie did always have good taste." Elena said with a soft smile. "But I'm sure this isn't the fanciest dress you ever wore to a dance."

Rebekah sighed and glanced over her shoulder to look at Elena. "Embarrassing truth? This is my first high school dance." She admitted to her and Elena had to stop from grinning from earning some trust towards the original. She stepped closer towards the blonde and cooed at her embarrassment.

"Ever?" Elena asked in a whisper, shock evident in her voice.

Rebekah shook her head. "I never really had time for high school before. Nik and I were always moving around running." She paused and swallowed the lump in her throat. "I never actually experience the high school lifestyle like going to dances or making friends." She said sadly but let a smile spread across her face. "Like I have with Mel." She coughed and pulled back the tears that were daring to escape. "Anyway, I didn't want to leave anything to chance. Have you heard anymore from him?" She asked carefully, referring to her older.

Elena shook her head. "No, but I'm sure that when he does, he'll do it with flare."

Rebekah turned to fully look at her. "And Damon and my father are all set with their plan?"

"Yes." Elena answered.

Rebekah abruptly turned back around and faced the mirror. "Don't tell me. I don't want to know. I just want to go to the dance and leave the rest to Mikael."

"I know it's really hard." Elena said trying to sound sympathetic. "So thank you for helping us get Klaus back into town."

Rebekah was surprised by the sympathy in her voice and paused for a second. Perhaps she had been wrong of the doppelganger. "Just be careful." She warned her. "I've been running for 1,000 years for a reason. Mikael is not a good person. And he definitely can't be trusted." Rebekah lowered her voice, as she felt dolor spread through her heart. "No one in my family can."

"Are you okay?" Elena asked, seeing the despair on her face.

Rebekah took a deep breath, calming herself. "I've spent my whole life loving and hating my brother with equal measure. I never thought that I'd be the one to help drive a stake through his heart." She confessed, making herself want to cry again but quickly shook her head. "No tears, I don't want to ruin my makeup." She faced herself in the mirror. "How do I look?" She asked Elena.

Elena walked closer, standing behind her. "You look amazing. But your missing one thing." She smiled taking out the necklace Stefan had given to her long ago.

Rebekah gaped at it in awe. "My mother's necklace."

"You should wear it tonight." Elena said to her. "May I?" She asked, gesturing to put it on her. Rebekah nodded her head and moved her hair out of the way, letting Elena clasp the necklace around her neck.

Once the necklace was on, Rebekah stared at Elena through the mirror with a grateful look. "Thank you."

Rebekah faced the mirror again and smiled. Things were going good. She was going to the dance and Melanie was going with her and now she had her mothers necklace back as well.

But just as soon as those happy thoughts entered her mind,a sudden pain coming from her chest began to take over. She slowly lowered her eyes towards her chest and saw the dagger. Looking back up she saw that Elena had stabbed her through the back right into her heart and she gave the doppelganger a confused and betrayed look.

"I'm so sorry, Rebekah." Elena whispered. "But I can't leave anything to chance either."

And that was the last thing Rebekah heard before a world of blackness took over and she fell unconscious to the floor.

* * *

After finishing painting, glittering, and putting up the decorations up for the dance, Melanie was now back at her house getting ready. It was nearing night time now and she was more than excited for dance. She already had her pink beige dress on and her hair was in loose curls that flowed elegantly. As for her makeup, well she didn't want to put on too much. So she settled with light powder, lip gloss, and massacre so her eyelashes would stand out a bit.

Looking at herself in the mirror she smiled, actually liking her reflection for once. She hoped Rebekah would like it as well...

Speaking of Rebekah...Melanie wondered if she was still getting ready. She reached for her cellphone that was on her nightstand when it suddenly began to play her ring. Grabbing the phone she answered with a carefree tone, expecting it to be Rebekah. "Hello?"

"Oh, Mel thank God you picked up!" Okay that wasn't Rebekah's voice. It was Caroline's and Melanie was glad she didn't say the originals name when she answered the phone right away. "I have bad news." Caroline's voice filled the phone again. "The gym's flooded."

"What?" Melanie said in disappointment. "Does this mean the dance is cancelled?" She hoped not...

"No!" Caroline's response came immediately. "Gosh, you sound just like Elena." Her voice was filled with drollness before she continued talking. "This just means we're moving the location to Tyler's house."

"You serious?" Melanie said in disbelief.

"Yes, I'm serious." Caroline's said. "Now hurry up and get your cute butt over here." She paused for a second before she talked again and Melanie could hear the teasing in her voice. "Also, don't think I forgot about your mysterious date of yours, Missy."

"Goodbye Caroline." Melanie laughed. "I'll see you in a few."

Caroline spoke up cheerfully again before Melanie could hang up. "Yeah, you and your date!"

Melanie rolled her eyes before ending the phone call. She then wondered if Rebekah knew of the change of scenarios for the dance. Maybe she didn't? So Melanie decided to call her just to make sure. But Rebekah didn't answer her call which seemed odd. Huh? Maybe she was still getting ready. So with that thought in mind, Melanie started typing up a text message.

**Hey Bekah, you must still be getting ready, but I just wanted to let you that the dance has been moved to Tyler's house. So I'll meet you there okay? See you soon :D - Melanie.**

Once satisfied with the text message, Melanie sent it. She still couldn't but get this uneasiness feeling in her stomach. She threw the feeling aside thinking it was just her nerves. Since she was really excited about going to the dance but also because she was on edge due to the whole plan to kill Klaus.

Melanie shook her head rapidly, deciding not to wonder on those thoughts. She couldn't let them get to her, she had a dance to go to and a friend to meet up with. So with a smile on her face she gave herself a once over again before putting the heels Rebekah got for her. Once she had them on she reached for her cellphone and purse and made her way downstairs, leaving to the party.

* * *

By the time Melanie arrived at the Lockwood Mansion, there was already a bunch of people surrounding the property. A lot of them she didn't even recognize. She walked further into the house through the crowd, making her way towards the backyard. She saw a bunch of people drinking, dancing, and an actual live band playing.

Melanie furrowed her eyebrows. She was pleasantly surprised. For being a last minute switch up, Tyler sure did know how to plan a good party. Dare she say that he might even be a better party organizer than Caroline. Of course Melanie would never say that out loud. Especially not in front of Caroline.

Focusing back to her surrounding, Melanie kept an out for Rebekah, since she hadn't seen her yet. But on closer inspection, she still didn't get a glimpse of her. She frowned. Was Rebekah not here yet? She thought for sure she would have arrived by now. She could't be at the school since Melanie did text her the new location for the dance. Maybe she was still getting ready? But that idea soon became silly, because it was night time now. Rebekah should have been ready, dressed, and here by now.

Melanie was just about to reach into her purse to take out her phone to call Rebekah, but a figure coming to stand next to her side, stopped her movements. She turned to look at said person and when she saw who it was, she let out an annoyed huff.

"Hey, Mel." Stefan said grinning, obviously knowing his appearance brought her annoyance. Yet he faked innocence. "What not glad to see me?" He did a once over, noticing her attire. "Well don't you look pretty. I''m so used to you wearing jeans and t-shirts, that I almost forgot you can actually pull off a dress."

She supposed that was meant to sound like a compliment, but coming from the, "no humanity Stefan" Melanie quickly disregarded the compliment. "Jeez, thanks." She said irked.

Stefan either didn't notice her tone or choose to ignore it. "So where's your bestie?"

"Around...somewhere." Melanie muttered, before sighing. "I think..."

"You think?" Stefan asked wryly. "What kind of friend are you to not know where your best friend is?" He mocked.

Melanie scowled at him. "I don't need you, of all people, telling me I'm a bad friend."

Instead of getting angry, Stefan just gave her a look of fondness. "Oh Mel, I sure do like these conversations with you. They bring me such joy."

"Yeah, right." Melanie said incredulously. "Why are you even talking to me Stefan? Shouldn't you be with Elena, since she's your date and all."

"Actually Mel, this might come to a surprise to you, but I'm not her date." Stefan retorted back to her.

"What?" Melanie asked.

"Yeah apparently she didn't want to go with me. Can you believe that?" Stefan said, pretending to sound hurt. "So she had Matt take her."

"So she's here with Matt?" Melanie asked creasing her eyebrows.

"Yup." Stefan said and then smirked. "Not jealous are you?"

Melanie scoffed. "No, why would I be?"

Stefan just shrugged his shoulders. "I just thought you wanted to go with Matt."

Melanie felt like screaming now. Why in the world did everyone think she liked Matt? She didn't! He was like older brother. Gosh what was wrong with everyone now a days. "Well, I didn't want to go with him." She grumbled out.

"Oh, that's right because you decided to come with a friend instead. A said friend who isn't even here." Stefan pointed out giving her a mock smile. "Unless of course you're lying and brought a date with you."

Melanie gave him a glare and was about to answer him when she saw Tyler heading their way.

"Hey Stefan. What's up?" Tyler asked and then glanced at Melanie, his gaze completely wavering. "Mel?" He said sounding completely surprised and awed. "You look...pretty."

"My thoughts exactly." Stefan commented placidly.

Melanie rolled her eyes at what Stefan said but managed to give Tyler a small smile. "Thanks, Ty."

"Nice party you've got going on." Stefan complimented Tyler, continuing the conversation.

Tyler shrugged nonchalantly. "Thanks, but I'm not the one throwing it."

At this Melanie frowned. What did he mean by that?

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked, as he to was confused.

Tyler gave them a carefree smile. "It's not a party man. It's a wake." He said, his tone indicating he saw nothing wrong with this as he walked away from them.

It was then at that moment that Melanie heard a very familiar British voice. Only it wasn't Rebekah's_―_it was Klaus's. Turning her head around towards where the stage was she saw him, standing right on the stage.

"Good evening everyone." Klaus said into the microphone. "I want to thank you all for being here with me to celebrate. It's been a long time coming." He grinned and everyone in the audience cheered and applaud.

Except for Melanie and Stefan. Stefan just stared at Klaus blankly. While all Melanie could do was look away, thinking about how the original hybrid was already here at the dance and worrying over the fact that for some odd reason Rebekah still wasn't.

* * *

After Klaus's grand entrance speech, Melanie made her way back inside the Lockwood Mansions house again trying to find Rebekah. It had now been over an hour and the brunette had yet to see her blonde friend. She tried calling and texting several times now, but each call was forward to voicemail and her text messages were never once answered. She was beyond worried now. What if something bad had happened to her?

Suddenly an even dreadful question emerged in her head. What if Rebekah had changed her mind about coming to the dance with her? What if she didn't want to be seen with her in public? _What if she found a date? _Melanie's heart began to beat faster as these thoughts and more entered her brain. Would Rebekah really do that to her? After all the shopping and girl bonding they had together, would the blonde original just dump her to the side like nothing?

To concentrated with those thoughts, she didn't notice where she walking and became startled when she bumped right into someone. She staggered back and faced the person she bumped into. Caroline's face immediately entered her view.

The blonde though immediately became relieved when she saw the youngest Gilbert. "Mel! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere! " She took a full look at her and gasped. "Oh my God, you look really pretty!" She said with wide eyes.

Melanie had the urge to roll her eyes. Why was everyone shocked with how she looked like? She was just wearing a dress. They've seen her wear dress before. So what was the big deal? "Thanks...now was there something you needed to tell me?" She asked moving the conversation along.

Caroline nodded her head. "Yes! Did you see Klaus out there?" She exasperated. "Apparently Tyler thought it would be alright to invite his so called "master" to the party."

"Oh." Was Melanie's only response to that. She had other important things on her mind. Like stressing over the fact that Rebekah wasn't here yet.

Caroline stared at her incredulously. "_Oh_?" She repeated. "That's all you have to say?"

"Well what else do you want me to say Caroline?" Melanie replied curtly back to her. "This is Klaus we are talking about. And Tyler is sired to him. There isn't that much shock value to this situation."

Caroline noticed the harsh tone and frowned. "What's got you so grumpy?"

Melanie pursed her lips. "Nothing..." She muttered, trying really hard to control her emotions.

"Wait where's your date?" Caroline asked tilting her head.

Melanie at the mention of her "date" otherwise known as Rebekah frowned. "I don't know."

"Come on Mel! Where is he?" Caroline practically jumped in place. "I wanna know who this special guys is that has you all dressed up."

"I told you, I don't know." Melanie hissed out.

Caroline's frown deepened. "Is something wrong? Did he not show up?"

Melanie kept quiet and bit her lip. Caroline obviously took this gesture by the youngest Gilbert as a yes and brought her into a hug. "Oh Mel, I'm so sorry! Don't worry about that jerk. I'm sure you'll find a much better guy."

_Guy_? Yeah right. Nonetheless Melanie returned the hug for a few seconds before pulling away. "Uh, thanks, Care."

Caroline smiled and then reached on the table, giving her a plastic red cup. "Here have something to drink. It'll help trust me."

Melanie stared at the cup, contemplating before taking it. What the hell, right? What could a few drinks do to her anyways. She brought the cup to her mouth and chugged the whole thing down within a few seconds.

"Atta girl." Caroline praised her. "Now, I'm going to go find Bonnie, but continue to have a few more drinks and I'm sure you'll be fine." She told her before giving her another smile and left.

Melanie just gave her an absent wave while having another drink. She normally didn't drink so much (not anymore at least), but with everything that was going on, she thought she deserved to have a lot more alcohol. Plus she wanted to forget about being stood up with Rebekah that she just continued to drink more and more. She was probably on her fifth drink when she started to feel the alcohol set in. It was beginning to get hot inside, so she decided to go back outside. The band was still playing and people were chatting among themselves and dancing. At seeing that, Melanie pouted. She should be dancing...with Rebekah. Instead here she was, alone.

Getting sad again she quickly grabbed the nearest drink around her which happened to be by a girl who was wearing a tiara. Melanie guessed she was the Homecoming queen or whatever, but it didn't phase her and stole her drink. She chugged it down like it was nothing, ignoring the girl's glare and protests. It was clear she was angry and annoyed at her but she said nothing to Melanie, and walked away. Melanie barely noticed her reaction and turned away, continuing to sulk until a British voice spoke up.

"Well that was quite amusing." Klaus said coming to stand next to Melanie. "I didn't know the littlest Gilbert had a liking for alcohol."

Normally Melanie would filled with nerves, but due to the alcohol, she just didn't care. "Yup. Me and alcohol have a real close friendship." She wisecracked.

"Yes, I can see that." Klaus grinned. "Almost as close as your friendship with my darling sister." He jested.

"What makes you say that?" Melanie asked.

"Well let's see." Klaus said wryly. "There's the fact that she bought you a dress and shoes with _my_ money."

"Oh, yeah. I guess I should thank you for that." Melanie smiling for a second before remembering that Rebekah wasn't here. "Or then again maybe _not_."

"Yes, well speaking of my sister, where is she?" Klaus asked her.

Melanie turned to fully look at him. "I don't know. I haven't seen her since I got here."

"Oh come on now love tell me the truth." Klaus said narrowing his eyes at her.

"Compulsion won't work on me, Klaus. I've got vervain in me. " Melanie just scoffed at him. "Anyways, I'm telling the truth."

Klaus gave her a acute stare. "So it seems you are, even in your drunken state."

Melanie's face scrunched up. "I am not _drunk_." But oh boy, she was.

"Sorry to break the news to you love, but you are." Klaus said in amusement while staring at the youngest Gilbert who was swaying a little on her sides. She obviously had to much to drink. This was probably the first time he was having an actual conversation with her alone. All the other times she's been around him, she was either with her older sister or with another town resident. Never had it just been the two of them. But now that he was talking to her, he had to admit she was quite a bemusing human. Here she was getting drunk at Homecoming while talking to him, the original hybrid. She was completely vulnerable. Well except for the vervain, still he could kill her and yet he wasn't going to. He didn't know exactly why. Maybe it was because she meant something to his sister. But what exactly did that entail? What about this human girl was so intriguing that made his sister care about her so much? All he saw was a blood bag, who was intoxicated. Still, deep down he found the youngest Gilbert...entertaining, so to speak.

Melanie pointed a finger at him and slurred. "_You're_ drunk..." Was her lame comeback, not knowing how lame that sounded.

Klaus smirked. Yeah, she was an amusing human. "Whatever you say love. If you see my sister tell her I'm looking for her."

Melanie made a _'Pshh'_ sound. "Oh, I'll make sure to tell her that and _a lot_ more."

Klaus was about to walk away but became interested by what she said. "Like what?"

Melanie got a far away look on her face that was almost dream like. "Like how I like to count the freckles that are scattered across her face...or how her blonde hair is as sunny as the sun itself." She sighed sadly. "Or how she she doesn't have to be alone anymore." Klaus became puzzled and was about to elaborate on the last statement before Melanie continued her drunken conversation, seemingly forgetting the things she said. "Wait...what was I saying?" She looked dazed, completely smashed, but her eyes lit up when she saw another alcoholic beverage on table across from where she saw. "Oh!" She said before walking after it, almost falling due to her heels. Picking herself up though, she quickly glanced over her shoulder and gave Klaus a lopsided smile. "Nice talking to you, Klaus." Except with the way she was drunk, it sounded as if she said 'Blaus'. Which only made the hybrid give her a more puzzled expression.

"Such a strange human indeed..."Klaus said intently. He was still trying to find out what made her so singular as to the other humans, and why his sister and her were already so close with each other.

* * *

Melanie was inside playing another round of beer pong with some guy she didn't know. He looked to be around her age, but then again she didn't care. All she wanted was to drink more, that she wasn't even paying attention to who was winning. The only thing she cared about was the jubilation feeling she got from the alcohol because it made her forget about...well...a certain blonde. For a while anyways.

All in all, her night had been great so far...well that's what she told herself on repeat. But her thoughts always ended up wondering onto Rebekah. Oh...how she wanted her to be here right now. To see her dressed up with that beautiful face of hers and soft looking hair. She wanted to dance with her...wanted to know how her body would feel up against her own...

_Wow―what?_

Melanie got a hold of her thoughts and shook her head, making her loose curls go wild. Okay, maybe she had a little too much to drink...

She started walking away, forgetting the completely that the guy she was playing with was left startled.

"Hey where you going? We still have another round to go!" He exclaimed over the loud music that was playing.

Melanie just waved her hand back. "You snooze you loose."

The guy just gave her a perplexed look. "What?" He looked towards the other people who were watching the game and raised his eyebrows. "Well she's drunk as hell, who wants to go next?"

Just as Melanie was pushing past the people inside, she noticed that everyone was being escorted outside. _Weird_, she thought but she kept her place not wanting to go outside. She didn't want to see the people who were having fun and dancing with their dates...

She leaned against the wall in the living room and closed her eyes, as she was beginning to feel the room spin.

"Melanie!" Matt's voice made her open her eyes, making her come face to face with him.

"Hey, _Matty_." Melanie slurred with a crooked smile.

"Mel, look we gotta_―_wait are you drunk?" Matt asked, noticing the state she was in.

Melanie scoffed. "No."

"Oh, my God, you are." Matt said giving her a chastising look. "If Elena saw you like this_―_"

"Forget about Elena." Melanie rebuked. "She's a party pooper!"

Matt sighed and looked around her. "Where's Rebekah?" Surely the original wouldn't have let her get this drunk. He's seen Melanie drink before and never had he seen her drunk like he was right now.

At the mention of Rebekah, the youngest Gilbert let out a frown. "I don't know...she never came." She sounded like a little girl who had just lost her puppy. "She never came and I was here all by myself..."

Matt sighed and reached to get her off the wall. "Oh, Mel...come on we gotta go." He needed to get her and Caroline out of here, since Tyler told him about how Klaus was up to something. But he knew now it was going to be a hassle because Caroline was knocked out and Melanie...well she was drunk as hell.

Melanie though pulled away from his arm. "No!" She protested. "I still want to party. I still want to_―_oh...when did the room start to spin?" She asked again, feeling the room move as she slid to the floor.

"Okay up an at' em." Matt said picking her up from the floor, leaning her against his side. "Come on, let's get you home."

Melanie although protesting verbally saying she didn't want to go, she eventually let him escort her home. He made sure she was safely in his truck before telling her to stay put before he went to go get Caroline.

* * *

Once both girls were in his truck, Matt dropped off Caroline first. After that he drove to the Gilbert's household but once he got there Melanie threw a tantrum not wanting to go inside. Which reminded Matt of when his mom or sister would get drunk...he would always be the one to look after them. But he hadn't taken care of someone like this in a while now. But now here he was taking care of Mel, and that immediately reminded him of those times. It made him feel like an older brother and useful for once... and although the feeling was nice he still didn't like seeing Mel drunk like this. Plus he really needed to get her inside, now. After another ten minutes of arguing and persuading, Matt finally convinced Melanie to go inside. They entered the Gilbert house, and Matt expected to see Alaric or Jeremy there but it was empty. He held onto Melanie as he leaned her on his side again, bringing her inside the house. During all this, the youngest Gilbert was pulling on his blonde hair.

"Ow! Mel, come on please stop that." He said gently pushing her arms away.

He walked them to the living room couch and sat them both down.

"Matty..." Melanie said catching his attention.

Matt looked at her and saw the broken look on her face. "Mel?"

"Matty, what's wrong with me.."

Matt frowned noticing the shattered voice he heard "Mel, there's nothing wrong with you."

"Then why didn't Rebekah show up to the dance?" Melanie asked sadly.

"Maybe something came up and she couldn't make it. I'm sure it had nothing to do with you." Matt told her trying to make her feel better.

"That still doesn't explain why I feel this way..." Melanie said close to tears now.

"Feel what?" Matt asked creasing his eyebrows.

"I shouldn't feel this way...but I do and it scares me..." Melanie continued to talk shaking her head.

"Melanie what do you mean?" Matt asked completely confused.

Melanie stared at him with tears going down with cheeks. "You were right about Rebekah...I like her...I like her a lot."

And with that confession Matt understood. He understood completely. He didn't question her and didn't say anything but instead without hesitation brought her to lean on his shoulder, feeling the tears from her eyes hit his suit jacket. But he didn't care about the tear stains, because all he wanted to do now was comfort his friend who he considered a little sister. He wanted to make her feel better...but most importantly he wanted to let her know that he was still her friend, no matter who she liked.

* * *

**_Hey guys I am so sorry for not updating this story sooner! I've been focusing more on my other story, A Hunter's Soul and for that I apologize! I don't want you guys thinking that I'm forgetting about this story cause I'm not! I really love do this story and I am planning on finishing it :) I really hoped this chapter made up for the time loss. So anyways, what did you guys think about this chapter so far? Matt now has suspicions that there's something going on between Melanie and Rebekah. And Melanie finally grew some balls and told Elena the truth about being friends with Rebekah.*Hahahaha*. Also I know a lot of you are asking how Melanie is going to be with the other originals and well all I gotta say is that she and Klaus will definitely have a lot of scenes together. Especially in the next chapter :) As for the others, well Melanie has already met Elijah before and she and him have a sort of understanding friendship. (You guys will see what I mean when she sees him again.) But wait until she meets Kol :D oh my god I can't wait to write their scenes together *Hehehe* I mean who doesn't like that cheeky, unpredictable, arrogant original vampire. _**

**_Btw, I know this old news but I just want to say that I am so happy that gay marriage is now legal in all 50 states! :D *WOOOHOOO* It's kinda giving me ideas now for the story later on. *Tehehe* Do I hear wedding bells in the future? Just remember team Relanie FTW! ;)_**


	10. Chapter 10: The morning after

**Disclaimer: I do** **not ****own The Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. I only own my OC Melanie Gilbert.**

***Edited 1/28/17***

* * *

_"The silence isn't so bad, till I look at my hands and feel sad. Because the spaces between my fingers are right where yours fit perfectly."_

_Owl City_

_**Chapter 10: The morning after**_

You know what the downside to getting completely drunk off your ass is? The agonizing hangover you end up getting the next morning.

Melanie groaned into her pillow as she was awakened by a painful headache. She warily cracked opened her eyes, but quickly squeezed them shut when she saw the sunlight that was coming from her bedroom window. _Ugh, I hate you sunlight! _She thought miserably. Laying out on her bed, she turned her head towards where her alarm clock was at and saw that it was eight in the morning.

Melanie groaned again, irritated. Why in the hell did she wake up so damn early? She was in so much pain right now. She was dealing with a earth splitting headache. Not to mention she felt nauseous and her throat felt dry from thirst. She grumpily opened her eyes again, slowly this time. Once she adjusted her eyesight to the morning light she threw the bed covers off of her and that's when she noticed she was still wearing her homecoming dress. _The hell? Why am I still wearing this dress? _She tried remembering what happened last night. Well other than the memory of her wasted off her ass. Groggily she swung her legs over the side of her bed. She felt uneasy doing this, which only made her realize how bad of a hangover she was having. _Damn you alcohol! _She cursed inwardly, but knew that she was the real one to blame for drinking the amount of alcohol that she did. God, why did she drink so much anyways? She mused this thought over in her head, but stopped once she felt her throat dry up. Bringing her hand to rub her throat, she thought water would help ease the pain. It was then when she lazily moved her eyesight towards her nightstand next to her bed, that her attention was caught.

On the nightstand there was a glass full of water and a small bottle of aspirin. Melanie hurriedly reached for the glass and chugged the cool water down along with the two aspirins. She felt the thirst in her throat ease up and she sighed in relief. After that she put the glass and aspirin bottle back on the nightstand and that's when she saw a small note that she must of not noticed where the bottle of aspirin had been. Confused, and having no idea who it was from, Melanie decided to read the note.

_Hey Mel,_

_I left you a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin on your nightstand. I figured you were going to need them badly when you'd wake up in the morning. And in case you haven't figured out yet genius, I was the one who tucked you in bed last night after you passed out on the couch. Don't worry though I didn't change you or anything for obvious reasons. One of them being that I would of faced your wrath if I did. You maybe small but you still pack a mean punch. In all seriousness though, if you need to talk to me more about what you told me last night, know that I'm always here for you. You don't have to be afraid about judgement Mel. I'm not going to stop being your friend, no matter who it is you_ _like_.

_\- Matt_

It took Melanie several reads in order to take everything the note said. And that's when she started remembering the events from last night...

She remembered arriving to the dance at Tyler's house, expecting to meet Rebekah there...but she didn't. No instead she had the oh so honor of having a conversation with Stefan and she had to listen to his comment about Rebekah's absence. After that her memory was filled with her drinking, drinking, and drinking the sorrow away. Thanks to her drinking, it led her to grumpily wander around Tyler's house in a complete drunken state. My God...she even realized she talked for a brief moment with Klaus! About Rebekah no less...

_Oh shit! How stupid am I? He could of killed me?! Yo be honest If I was him, I would of killed me... I was being a drunken idiot._

But strangely the original hybrid didn't end up killing her. Melanie furrowed her eyebrows, confused.

Don't get her wrong she was glad that he didn't kill her, but the question still remained. Which was, why?

She was irrelevant to him. After all she was a mere unimportant human being. She wasn't a doppelganger liker her older sister. Her blood wasn't important or special in any means. She didn't possess any magical powers like Bonnie. Nor was she a vampire or a werewolf. She was just a boring, powerless, human. So why didn't Klaus do her any harm? Especially in the vulnerable state she was in last night, with no protection what so ever. Well other than the fact that she had vervain in her system, but he still could of snapped her neck like a twig without even blinking...but he didn't. She figured it had to have been because of how many people were around them. Too many witnesses. What could have stopped him from killing her? Did he hesitate because of what she said about Rebekah. With how she complimented her. Was it because of that? Maybe Rebekah told her brother how much she liked her? After all Klaus did mention when he called that Rebekah had been spending time with her. Maybe that was it!

Melanie quickly shook away that false hope.

_No._

That couldn't have been the reason. Rebekah didn't even show up to the dance. Which was the sole reason why she got drunk in the first place. Rebekah must of finally realized how much of a pitiful and weak human being she was. She didn't want her friendship. Why would she? Rebekah was a thousand year old vampire and she was beautiful. She was also experienced in so many ways that Melanie wasn't. She had been to and seen many wonderful things during her life. Much better and intriguing than her. So why even be friends with a simple being like her? She was inconsequential. That was the cold hard truth.

So the youngest Gilbert felt pathetic to have even thought that this friendship would lead to more.

_You're a idiot, Melanie! Rebekah doesn't want you as a friend. So what makes you think she'll want to be more? Wake up! You're alone and you'll always be alone! You're stupid to even have these feelings for her. Why can't you be **normal**!_

Normal...

Such a funny little word. Yet how powerful it was.

It was a word that had always taunted Melanie. Because let's face it, nobody in her life now was_ 'normal'. _But they were normal when it came to liking people and relationships. Except for the youngest Gilbert.

She always felt like the odd one out. For years now, since at a young age she knew she was different from everyone else. Not in any supernatural way, but in a human way you could say. She knew about her _difference_ when she was about five years old. It was when she and her family had gone to a friends wedding. She remembered how they were all dressed up. Elena and her had to wear yellow dresses. Much to Melanie's disappoint, but Elena's enlightenment. Melanie though had never liked the color yellow, even when she was little. But she wore it anyways. She remembered how Jeremy was dressed up as well and he had to wear his little boy tux. He much like her didn't like wearing his attire either and she remembered the two of them playing tag around the house, in their formal clothes before their mother Miranda and father Grayson calmed them down. Even at a young age, Jeremy and her were always playful together. Elena, being the older sister, even back then kept a close eye on them, but especially towards Melanie. Anyways, it was at this friends wedding, that gave Melanie the first clue that she was different...

When they arrived at the church everything had been fine...but once Melanie saw the bride enter and walk down the isle, that's when things took a turn. She remembered thinking how beautiful she looked, kinda like a princess. A princess who was about to get ready to marry her prince charming. But what she pictured in her mind wasn't that...no she pictured a princess marring another princess. Which back then she didn't really see the meaning behind it. She was just a child after all. But as the years went on and as she grew up, she knew that the way she viewed and thought of things, weren't how other people viewed them...especially when she got into high school and the whole dating thing started up. Frankly, she never wanted to date... at least not any guys. They never caught her interest. She never felt any ounce of attraction towards them. Not at all. But she did feel something towards girls.

Melanie always found girls to be more intriguing than guys. They were more fascinating to talk to and look at. She always felt a tinge of warmth in her stomach when she talked to girls that she found appealing. The kind of feelings your suppose to get when you have a crush or find someone attractive. At least that's what people would tell her anyways. That when you like someone you would feel butterflies in your stomach. But Melanie wasn't feeling that way towards boys...no it was towards _girls_. And she felt confused because of that. How could she like girls? That wasn't right. No she must of misinterpreted her feelings for something else. Because there was no way that she could be...well a _lesbian_. So, she did what she thought was the best thing to do. She denied those unwanted feelings and buried them deep down her consciousness where they'd be hidden. And over the years she tried her best to keep those feelings under control as much as possible.

After all, ignorance is bliss.

Especially when the topic of dating was brought up. Which was mostly done by Caroline. She was like her personal match maker. The bubbly blonde always tried her best to set up Melanie with guys that she thought for sure would get along with her.

Caroline set her up with a bunch of guys. There was the football player, basketball player, the top leading guy in the theater production, and so on. But whenever she did this, Melanie always either declined the offers or told her she was busy with school. That was always her main excuse. But of course there were times when she couldn't refuse and she reluctantly went on the dates. And they _sucked_.

She never felt any type of connection towards them. It's not like she didn't try, because she did. She even went as far as kissing one of the guys Caroline set her up on. But immediately she knew it was wrong and ended the kiss. She felt gross and icky and she didn't feel fireworks of any kind. It felt forced...and she didn't want anything that was forced. Of course though, Caroline felt disappointment, that she didn't manage to find a guy for her. The youngest Gilbert wanted to shake some sense into her, and tell that it was pointless for her to try to find a guy because there would _never_ be a guy in her life. Melanie was determined to end up alone in life. She preferred that than to have people know about her sexuality. How would a small town like Mystic falls take the news that one of its well known resident was gay? Probably not well, and she'd probably feel like any even bigger loner...

That's why Melanie liked and valued the friendship she had with Rebekah. She didn't feel alone when she was with her. She felt happy and complete. Rebekah brought back those butterflies and warmth that she tried so hard to bury deep down over the since meeting her...Melanie knew she couldn't deny herself the feelings she had towards the original vampire. It just wasn't possible. But sadly...due to last night events, she felt like utter shit. Rebekah didn't want to be her friend and there was no freakin' way she would ever feel the way she does.

_This is what you get for being different... a broken heart._

Melanie didn't want to be different, she wanted to be like everyone else! She wanted to be like Elena. Her older sister always made things seem so easy. Fitting in, making friends and finding love. She found love in Stefan and no doubt probably in Damon as well. Why couldn't she be like her? Or like the rest of her friends? Why was she the defective one? Why would the universe do this to her? Was it all for a laugh? Cause to her it wasn't funny.

Melanie wished her aunt Jenna was still alive. Out of all the Gilbert family members, she was the closest to her. Jenna always understood her problems with fitting in and her social skills with people. Her aunt herself told her how she sometimes felt inadequate when she was compared to Miranda, her older sister. Much like how Melanie felt towards Elena. So the two of them shared similar problems. Jenna though always gave her encouraging words to get her through her upcoming adolescent life. So it made her wonder, what her dear aunt would tell her right now. How would she of reacted to her sexuality?

The youngest Gilbert had to admit that her aunt would of probably been welcoming. She had a feeling deep down that Jenna knew she was different from everyone else. She just got the vibe that she would of been supportive towards her. Still right now Melanie really craved her aunt's wise and supporting words. It would of made things so much comforting to know someone was on her side. Because she had no idea how the rest of her family would react to her being gay. Not that she was going to tell them any time soon. Truthfully, she didn't want to tell anyone. She wasn't ready for that...but unfortunately she already told someone.

Melanie quickly looked back towards the note. Her face dropped and she swear she felt her blood turn ice cold, as she read the note all over again.

_Matt knows. Matt knows. Matt knows._

"Oh, my God_—"_

Once the realization that someone knew her deepest darkest secret hit her, Melanie felt the remains in her stomach rise up and she quickly bolted to her bathroom. Once there she sunk to her knees near her toilet and without even caring that she was still wearing her dress, she finally released everything she was holding in. It was gross...but at the same time she felt a little bit better. After her little puke episode, she shakily rose up from the ground, and that's when she saw her reflection in her bathroom mirror. She cringed when she saw the state she was in. Her once beautiful dress was crinkled. Her face was red and splotchy from the crying she had been doing when she was throwing up. The make up she had on was now running down her eyes and her hair was a tangled mess. Actually now that she thought about it, her appearance was exactly how she was feeling...a utter complete mess.

_Matt knows...I told him and now he knows I'm gay._

How could she of told him that? No one was suppose to know! _Damn it!_ That's what happens when you get drunk and have your feelings hurt. You open your mouth and pour your heart out.

Melanie leaned against her bathroom sink as she started taking deep breaths.

_It's okay._

She said reassuringly to herself. Matt's a good guy and based on the note that he left her, there was no judgement on his side. He even told her that if she needed someone to talk to he was there for her. Matt, one of her best and closest friends was supportive about her sexuality. Best of all, he wasn't criticizing her on who she liked_—_Rebekah. So maybe...just maybe everyone else wouldn't judge her either? Well except for Elena...

Melanie had no idea on how her older sister would react to her being gay, but she had no doubt that her sister would hate the fact that she had feelings towards Rebekah. Elena disliked Rebekah with a passion and Rebekah wasn't exactly Elena's biggest fan. Things between them were never going to be civil. Not that it mattered anyways...based on what happened last night Rebekah wanted nothing to do with her. So she didn't have to worry about telling people about her sexuality or about who she liked. Though deep down she couldn't keeping denying the fact that she cared deeply for Rebekah...because she did. But that didn't mean she was going to tell people yet. Matt was enough for now and she trusted him not to tell the others her secret. Matt wasn't a gossip. So she knew he was a trustworthy friend.

Still, the fact that Rebekah forsaken their friendship hurt Melanie._ A lot._

She was the undesirable one. The insignificant one of the group...

Just like she had been and would always be...

* * *

After taking a long waited shower, Melanie looked much more presentable. She still felt like utter crap, but at least she wasn't wearing her worn out Homecoming dress and the make up she had on was no longer drooping on her face either. Instead now she was wearing dark washed out jeans, her dark grey purple checkered out flannel, with a grey black t-shirt underneath, and lastly for foot wear she had on her black vans. Her brown locks that were in curled waves were now loose and still wet from the shower she just had. She managed to untangle the bed head mess she had, and felt glad that it wasn't a mess anymore.

Once she got dressed, Melanie quickly but quietly went down the stairs. Much to her relief no one was in the kitchen. Seeing as she was alone, she went towards the coffee maker. She needed caffeine..._badly_. After the coffee was made and ready to drink, she took a sip enjoying the warmth. Even just the smell alone was helping get rid of her hangover and the splitting headache she still had.

"I'm surprised to see you up and awake, this early in the morning."

Melanie stopped mid-sip, as she heard Jeremy's voice fill up the kitchen. She turned her head towards where her brother was at and saw him leaning against the entrance of the kitchen. She took another quick sip out of her coffee mug before she set down the mug on the counter and turned to face her brother again.

"Well, I wanted to grace everyone with my morning presence. But it looks like you're the only one here to witness it. Lucky you." Melanie jested, throwing her arms around the room, fatuously.

Jeremy rolled his eyes playfully at hearing his younger sister's sarcasm. "Haha, very funny. For real though, I would of thought you'd still be in bed." He came over to where she was at and stole her coffee. "You look like crap by the way." He told her with a good-natured smile before taking a sip of her coffee. Enjoying the brother-sister rib that was happening.

"Oh, Geez really? I had no idea." Melanie said rolling her eyes before grabbing back her coffee. Her older brother always was the coffee thief. She hurriedly finished the whole mug, before he had the chance to steal another sip again.

Jeremy noticed this and laughed. His laugh and smile faltered a little. "Seriously...how are you, Mels?"

Melanie furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm fine..." She mumbled, disheartened.

Jeremy looked unconvinced. "You sure about that? Cause from what I heard, you got pretty wasted last night."

Melanie groaned. Of course he heard about her drunken night, so must of everyone else._ Fantastic..._

"Well...contrary to belief, I'm okay." Melanie said lamely. "Other than the fact that I have this annoying ass headache. I'm in tip-top shape."

Jeremy saw past Melanie's sardonic persona and sighed. "Was there a reason why you drank so much? The last time you got drunk that bad was when you were heavily depressed about mom and dad's passing." He said in dismay. His eyes sadden as well.

Melanie felt herself falter. What Jeremy said was true now that she really thought about it. The last time she had gotten that drunk was when she was in her depressed state. It had been a couple of months since her parents had died and she had been so sad and depressed that she hadn't spoken to anyone within those months. One night though her sorrow got so bad she drank a whole bottle of vodka by herself. She got so drunk she ended up passing out on her bedroom floor where Jeremy was the one who had found her. Luckily he didn't tell anyone since he to was dealing with the death of their parents in a similar way. Only his way of coping had more drugs. Which was something Melanie never used. Jeremy did though but over time he's usage had stopped. As well as his depression. Melanie's too, for a bit anyways. But she never drank that much again...until last night. So she can understand why Jeremy was worried. He must of thought she was feeling depressed again. Well she wasn't...at least that was what she was telling herself.

She took a deep breath, controlling her wavered voice. "I'm fine Jer, really. I just kind of lost control last night. Besides...I wanted to have fun. I mean aren't people are age suppose to let loose once in a while and have fun?"

Jeremy raised a single eyebrow and smirked. "You let loose? Mel, you hate party's. I'm still in shock that you even went, let alone got drunk."

"Oh shut up. I can have fun once in a while." Melanie said playfully shoving his shoulder.

Jeremy returned the shove just as playfully. "Right...well as long as it wasn't because of something serious...then I'm glad you had a good-time. But you might want to come up with a better excuse for Elena." He forewarned her.

Melanie let out a huff. Great...the last thing she wanted to deal with was Elena reprimanding her for her actions last night. She already had a lot to deal with that she didn't need her older sister's chastising nature to be added on her list of why her life sucks so much right now.

"Great can't wait for that. Where is she anyways?" Melanie asked feeling her headache grow immensely at the thought of her older sister.

"She went out for a run. So you have an hour or so to chill out before she comes back." Jeremy told her.

"Even better..." Melanie muttered before putting the coffee mug into the sink. She then faced her brother again. "Wait a minute, what are you doing up anyways? You hate mornings."

"I was going to hang out with Tyler." Jeremy said before looking rather sheepishly. "I also wanted to leave before Elena came back too."

"Why?" Melanie asked.

"I got fired from my job last week from the grill..." He admitted to her and smiled lamely. "I also failed my history report."

"What?! Jer, you got fired?" Melanie exclaimed. "And how do you know you failed your history report? I haven't even gotten mine back yet."

"Yeah, I got fired, okay? I didn't want to work there anyways. And I know I failed because I turned in a copy that I found online." Jeremy told her not sounding the least bit of upset. "Look things have been crazy lately. I can't pile work and school! It's hard, not to mention not really important with what we deal with everyday."

Melanie sighed, understanding him. "I get that but Elena's going to be extremely upset when she hears about this, you know? And along with my drunkenness we're both going to face her mother hen wrath!"

"Yeah...hence why I'm leaving to hang with Tyler. You want to come with or no?" Jeremy asked her.

Melanie scoffed. "And what? Stay here and face the wrath of a scolding Elena? Nopity nope. I'm going with you buddy." The brunette said shaking her head vigorously, ready to leave the house.

"Alright just hold on." Jeremy told her before he left the kitchen and went upstairs. When he came back down he was holding a crossbow.

Melanie tilted her head. "Um, Jer. Why do you have Alaric's crossbow?"

Jeremy gave her a childish smile. "You'll see. Now come on lets go."

After that, the young pair of Gilbert siblings left the household together, feeling cordial with each other. As they were both not ready to face their dear older sister's scolding. They were glad to be getting out of the house and it was just an added bonus that they were going to spend some brother and sister time together. Both of them needed it. Especially Melanie.

* * *

After the Gilbert siblings left their household, they made a quick stop to one of the small coffee shops the town had. On behalf of Melanie. The youngest Gilbert still had a major bad headache and a massive hanger over that was still lingering. So she knew that another cup of coffee would help her with the rest of the ongoing day.

Anyways, after a quick visit to the coffee shop, the two then left, making their way deep into the woods where Tyler was waiting for them.

Once they had arrived there, Jeremy and Tyler began shooting cans with the crossbow that Jeremy had taken from Alaric. Melanie, at the mean time was leaning against one of the trees, as she continued drinking her caffeinated drink with ease. Laughing slightly at the childish ways her brother and friend Tyler were acting.

Her hangover now was finally coming to an end. She was feeling a little bit better and guessed it has to do with the fresh air she was breathing. Although, she liked to think it was because she was spending time with Jeremy. It had been a while since she got to have quality time with her older brother. Granted he wasn't much older than her, but still she remembered how he liked to remind her that she was the youngest. Though deep down she liked the brother sister teasing. It enlighten her from their supernatural chaotic life. Plus it was just an added bonus that Tyler was here with them as well.

Melanie enjoyed Tyler's company, he was a fun guy to be around and hang with. Except she didn't always feel this way towards him. There was a time when she didn't like being in the same room as him. She remembered distinctly how much of a bully and prick he was towards Jeremy. Her brother and him didn't exactly see eye to eye in the past. They argued and even fought each other. Now Tyler back then didn't exactly treat Melanie the same way he did with Jeremy, but he also wasn't necessarily the nicest person to her either. But still, despite his lame attempts in trying to keep peace with her back then, Melanie still had it out for Tyler. After all Jeremy was her older brother and she never liked seeing someone cause trouble for him or the rest of her family. Hence why she used to heavily dislike Tyler a lot.

But look at them now...

It was if the past didn't exist and now it seemed like they had ways been close friends.

It made sense to her though. With everything that they had been through together, with the existence of all the supernatural creatures, of course it made them closer with each other.

Melanie took another sip of her warm rich coffee, as these thoughts ran through her mind. She then looked towards her brother who at that exact moment shot another can with the crossbow. A small smile graced her face as she heard Tyler's praise-meant.

"Nice shot!"

Jeremy in return just shrugged, as he reloaded the crossbow again. "So, what's the point of this again?" He asked him.

"The point is I'm pissed at Caroline, and Bonnie dumped your ass." Tyler said, earning an unamused expression from Jeremy and a head swap from Melanie, as she let him know that wasn't funny. Tyler though just laughed at her attempt to keep him at bay. To him it was just harmless joking around between them. He gave Jeremy a grin. "The point is to get drunk and shoot stuff." He better clarified, before grabbing another beer from his cooler. He then gave Melanie a smirk. "Isn't that right, Mel?"

Melanie groaned at his teasing know it had to do with her getting drunk last night. "_Haha_, very funny Tyler." She said giving him a playful glare. "But I'll think I'll pass." She stated as she held up her coffee.

"Psh, that's not what you said last night." Tyler teased as she cracked open his beer.

"Shut up." Melanie huffed, slightly irritated now since she really didn't want to think about last night anymore. It just reminded her of Rebekah...which was a topic she really didn't want to dwell with anymore. Luckily for her the guys blamed her hangover for her sudden erupt crankiness.

Tyler laughed at her before turning towards Jeremy. The Gilbert boy just gave him a pointed look. "Profound." He said blankly to him before sighing. "If Alaric finds out I took this he is gonna use it on me and Mel."

"Hey..." Melanie said defensively. "You're the one that took the damn thing. I was just the innocent bystander." She retorted lamely knowing how childish she sounded. Though to her it seemed amusing.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, knowing full well his sister was playing the innocent act. "You saw me take it didn't you?"

Melanie scoffed. "Well yeah, I ain't blind."

"Ahh, see. You didn't even ask me to put it back. Which makes you a culprit, just as me." Jeremy retorted with a cheeky smile.

Melanie furrowed her eyebrows at him. Damn...he had a point. "Whatever." She grumbled, but deep down she was enjoying the brother-sister banter between them.

"So what's the deal with that?" Tyler asked out of nowhere. Both Gilbert siblings gave him a bemused look. Tyler saw this and clarified his sudden question. "He's like your guardian now?" He asked, and now they knew that he was referring to Alaric.

Jeremy turned to look at Melanie, who in return just nodded her head. In her honest opinion she really did hunk of Alaric as a guardian. He was the closest thing the Gilbert's had for a father figure.

Jeremy nodded as well towards Tyler. "Sort of yeah. I think he feels responsible for us." He admitted to the hybrid.

Tyler took a another gulp from his beer before speaking up again. "Do you guys like him?" He asked the both of them, curiously.

Melanie with no hesitation answered first. "Yeah, I like him." She said ardently before lowering her eyes to the coffee cup she was holding in her hands.

"I do too." Jeremy answered just as honestly. He then aimed his crossbow, but faltered his stance when he saw that Tyler was still in the way. His eyebrows furrowed a bit. "You wanna move out of the way?" He asked him.

At hearing this, Melanie looks up again and saw the scene that was unfolding right in front of her. She narrowed her brown eyes at Tyler, confused as to why he wasn't moving.

Tyler saw the expression they had on and he let out an amused chuckle. "I'm a hybrid Gilbert." He reminded him with a hint of pride in his voice. "You can't kill me unless you cut my head off or rip out my heart." He let his eyes wander to the weapon Jeremy was holding. "And you're not gonna do it with that lame ass crossbow." He smirked patronizing him. "But go ahead. Take a shot." He dared, challenging him as he set the beer can he had on the ground. Taking a stance right in front of Jeremy he gave him a taunting smile." Unless you don't think you can't hit me."

Jeremy took a second debating on what he should do. He looked at Melanie again, but saw how she had a unreadable expression on her face. Though he did notice how the hold on her coffee cup looked tighter. He then came to a decision, as he readied and aimed the crossbow back forward Tyler. Accepting the challenge, he squeezed the trigger and he along with Melanie saw how the arrow flew out, as it headed towards Tyler. The hybrid quickly caught it with ease before the arrow got him right in the face.

It was silent for a second before both Jeremy and Melanie let out breathless laugh from amazement and momentary fret.

Tyler chuckled seeing their reaction and dropped the arrow to the ground. "See, I told ya." He boasted with a larger grin on his face.

At that moment Melanie felt her phone vibrate. She took out her cell phone with the hand that wasn't holding the coffee cup and reached into her jeans pocket. When she took out her cellphone she saw that she was getting an incoming call from her sister. She inwardly groaned, not wanting to deal with Elena berating just yet. She was having fun with the guys. Without even thinking twice she ended the call before putting it back into her pocket. After that she quickly chugged down the rest of her coffee and then dropping the cup on the ground, without a care. She then made her way where Jeremy was standing.

"You guys have been hogging the crossbow for nearly an hour. How about letting me have a try now." She asked them, although it sounded more like telling then asking.

Tyler grinned at this. "Oh, well, we didn't want you to break a nail." He said joking around with her.

Melanie rolled her eyes at this. "Please, as if breaking a nail would stop me from beating you with my shooting skills."

"Ha! What shooting skills." Tyler laughed.

Melanie gave him a glare but said nothing to him. Knowing full on well she was about to show him up. She turned towards her brother. "Jeremy if you will." She asked him politely holding her hands out.

Jeremy gave Tyler a grin before handing Melanie the crossbow, already knowing what to expect. "Gladly." He told her and then stood back ready for a show to happen.

"Thank you." Melanie said appreciatively, before aiming the crossbow towards the cans. Each and everyone that was still standing had gone to the ground, as she never missed one with every shot she made. When they were all gone, she lowered the crossbow and she gave a smirk towards Tyler.

"How...just how in the world did you do that?" Tyler asked shell shocked. His mouth agape and his eyes were buggering out from watching Melanie shoot down the cans, expertly.

"What? Just cause I'm a girl doesn't mean I don't know how to shoot. I'm like one of the guys." Melanie laughed, musically. "You're not the only one who has skills Lockwood." She said with a grin before giving Jeremy a hive five. Both Gilbert's were still laughing loudly due to Tyler s expression. Melanie who was now feeling way better from her hangover and heart ache, finally smiled genuinely. "Now, who's up for another round?"

* * *

Meanwhile in the Mystic Grill, Elena was pacing back and fourth, running a hand through her hair. She let a scowl appear on her face momentarily as she received her brother's voicemail. "Jeremy, the minute you get this, call me. I've already tried calling Mel, but she doesn't answer and now you're not either? Where are you guys at?" She let out a disheveled sigh, but her voice remained stern. "Just call me back." She said before she hung up the phone and put it back into her jeans pocket.

Damon who was playing darts to the side heard her. He smirked lazily. "You're feisty when you're mad." He said in an alluring manner, but stumbled slightly when he made his way towards her due to all the daytime drinking he had been doing.

Elena shook her head tensely. "It's not that I'm mad. I'm just―_worried_." She admitted in a low voice.

"Why?" Damon questioned incautiously. "So Jeremy lost his job at the grill. I think he'll survive, Elena."

"Oh, yeah what about Mel?" Elena asked in a short tone. The oldest Gilbert shook her head in uneasiness. "They're both spiraling. Ever since Bonnie broke up with Jeremy, he's been moody, barely speaking with anyone. And Mel's been acting out..." She sighed drawing out the sentence.

"Oh you mean with her getting plastered last night?" Damon asked nonchalantly as he threw another dart. Once he saw that it hit the board right in the middle he turned back to face her. The vampire gave her a half-shrug. "They're just being typical teenagers. They'll get over with whatever they're dealing eventually."

Elena thought that perhaps Mel would be able to get over her teenage issues like Damon suggested, but she knew that her youngest sister wouldn't be able to. Last night proved that, and as for Jeremy? She quickly gave Damon a pointed look. "He's been seeing ghosts and he's lost just about everyone he cares about."

"Not everyone. He still has you and baby Gilbert." Damon informed her sharply.

Elena took notice of this tone and furrowed her eyebrows. "You okay?" She asked softly.

Damon scoffed as he looked at her. "What makes you think I'm not okay?" He questioned sullenly.

"Well..." Elena huffed crossing her arms. "You're day drunk. It's not exactly your most attractive look."

At this Damon gave her a teasing smile as he came closer to her. "Oh? What is my most attractive look?"

"Uh-uh." Elena said raising her hand, just as he was now a few inches away from her. "I'm not saying you have any attractive looks. I'm just saying...this is my least favorite one." She admitted sheepishly.

"Noted." Damon said with a flirtatious grin. "See if I can make any improvements."

There was a moment of silence between them until a familiar British voice filled their ears.

"Don't mind me."

Both Elena and Damon, startled from their conversation, turned around and saw none other than Klaus standing a few feet away from them. He was leaning against of of the Grill's tables, and standing next to him was a man.

"_Klaus_." Elena spit out curtly.

The hybrid in hearing her anger just gave her a wily grin.

Damon glared him. "You going to do this in the grill? It's a little beneath you, don't you think?"

Klaus still held a look of innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just came down to my local pub to grab a drink with a mate." He turned to look towards the man that was standing next to him. "Get a round in won't you tony?" He asked and then watched as the man nodded and walked to the bar.

"I'm surprised you stuck around long enough for happy hour." Damon said to him in low voice that held danger.

Klaus was unfazed by this and instead gave him a narrowed stare. "My sister seems to be missing." He stated to both of them and saw how tensed they looked. "Need to sort that out..."

"Cute, blonde bombshell, psycho." Damon listed with attitude. "Shouldn't be too hard to find."

"You see that's what I assumed as well. I'd thought she'd be around with that sister of yours, since they seem to be quite _close_ with each other." Klaus said glancing towards Elena giving her a knowing look. He saw how she tensed up she got and he narrowed his eyes at her. "But as of last night it turns out she hasn't seen her. How odd is that right, love?" A moment of silence passed between them, as she made no attempt in responding to him. His eyes then turned towards Damon. "Anyways, truth is I've grown to rather like your little town." He said as he walked closer to the dart board. "Think I might fancy a home here. I imagine you're wondering how does this affect you..." He turned to give them a superior expression. "And the answer is, not in the slightest. As long as I get what I want, and everyone behaves themselves, you can go on living your little lives however you choose." Klaus said with a serious voice. "You have my word."

Elena though wasn't buying this. "What more could you possibly want?"

"Well for starters, you can tell me where I might find Stefan." Klaus demanded more than asked.

Damon clenched his jaw. "Stefan skipped town the second he saved your ass."

"You see that's a shame." Klaus said acidly before he threw the dart, making it hit the middle with such force that it went through the board. The hybrid then turned back to face them again, his expression now solid with fury. "Your brother stole from me. I need him found so I can take back what's mine."

"That's sounds like a Klaus and Stefan problem." Elena butted in with a scowl.

Klaus made a threatening step closer to her, but stopped when Damon stood in front of her protectively. The hybrid eyed the vampire before he let out a smirk. He then turned to look at the doppelganger. "Well, this is me broadening the scopes sweetheart."

* * *

A couple hours later, after they finished shooting in the woods, Melanie and Jeremy finally decided to head back home. They were hesitant at first since Elena would of probably already been there and neither Gilbert wanted to deal with her yet. But they reasoned with themselves saying that they could't avoid their older sister forever. Therefore, with that in mind both Gilbert siblings walked into their home.

As soon as they walked inside Melanie saw Elena and Alaric. Her older sister was setting up the dinner table, while Alaric was in the kitchen chopping vegetables. Jeremy saw this too and gave them a gesture of _hello_ nodding his head at them. He then with out a word walked towards the fridge and took out two bottle of waters for him and Mel.

Much to her surprise, Mel saw how Elena had a tight smile on her face rather than a scolding expression. "Hey, you guys are just in time. We're cooking."

Mel who stayed behind near the table gave her older sister a dour look. "No thanks, I'm not really hungry."

"Yeah, me neither." Jeremy said as he made his way back towards the front door, with Melanie right behind him. "Besides, we're just passing through."

Alaric the ever peace maker spoke up, causing them to stop in there tracks. "Ah, well, I thought we would all stay in and have a meal together like a typical―well _atypical_ family." He said trying to make light of the conversation between them.

Jeremy scoffed. "Why?" He asked in chagrin.

"Maybe because you got fired and you didn't tell anyone." Elena retorted back to him as she crossed her arms over her chest. She then gave looked over towards Melanie and her parental expression became more noticeable. "And how about the fact that you got drunk last night. Matt had to drive you home Mel! What would of happened if he hadn't been there? I mean what were you thinking?" She asked with a raised voice, scolding her.

Melanie rolled her eyes, but wasn't the least surprised with having her older sister reprimanding her. She still didn't like it though. The youngest Gilbert gave her a annoyed look as she sensed her headache coming back. "I was thinking of having fun Elena, you should try it sometime." She quipped back to her with a tight sharp smile. She really didn't want discuss about the real reason she had gotten drunk off her ass with her.

Elena furrowed her eyebrows at sister and frowned. "Having fun?" She repeated incredulously. "You call that having fun? Mel―"

Jeremy sensed the tension between his sisters and spoke up. "Look, can we do this later? We made plans with Tyler. He's right outside."

At this Alaric's eyes went wide. "Wait..." He said in surprise. "When did you guys start hanging out with Tyler Lockwood?"

"I don't know." Jeremy said in nonchalance, thinking it wasn't a big deal.

Melanie felt the same way and just shrugged her shoulders. "Does it really matter?"

Elena gave them a look as if they were crazy. "Yeah, it matters." She said firmly, this time uncrossing her arms from her chest and instead placed them on her hips. "He was sired by Klaus. He's dangerous."

"You know he has ears right?" Melanie said with a caustic voice. "He can hear you perfectly well."

"He's right outside." Jeremy commented before giving Elena a _"Are you serious"_ look. "Besides you of all people are gonna lecture me on who I can and can't hang out with?"

Hearing her brother say this made Melanie think of Rebekah and of how Elena would constantly tell her not to be around the blonde vampire. Despite Mel not wanting to think about Rebekah, she couldn't help but think of the blonde beauty. She then looked at her older sister with a glare as she thought about all the times she said to stay away from Rebekah. "Yeah, Elena you can't control everyone." The youngest Gilbert countered back, letting the anger she felt come through the surface.

Elena noticed how they were both behaving and glowered at them. "What is with your guys attitude?"

Jeremy just rolled his eyes. "Whatever, this is lame. Tyler's waiting for us."

Just as he and Melanie were about to walk towards the door again, Elena quickly stood in front of them blocking the way.

"No. Oh, no, no. You two are not going anywhere, especially not with Tyler." Elena said sternly.

Melanie was beginning to feel even more irradiated, as did Jeremy. They both looked back towards Alaric hoping for some sort of support.

Alaric though gave them a apologetic expression. "Sorry guys, but I'm with her on this one."

Melanie shook her head in disbelief. "Unbelievable." She muttered lowly.

"Alright, fine." Jeremy said in annoyance. "You want us to stay in? Then let's all stay in." He gave Elena a pointed look before glancing towards the front door. "Yo, Tyler! Come on in!" He shouted, surprising everyone in the room, except for Melanie. The youngest Gilbert remained still as she stood next to him and watched as the front door opened.

"Jeremy!" Elena hissed lowly. She then watched as Tyler came into the house.

Melanie finding the situation to be slightly amusing, shared a look with Alaric and muttered, _"Awkward..." _

* * *

After the awkwardness that followed Tyler's entrance, they were all in the dining area. Melanie, Elena, Alaric, and Tyler were seated at the table, while Jeremy placed a plate in front of Tyler.

"Thanks." Tyler said politely despite feeling the tension in the room.

"This is weird." Elena commented eyeing Tyler with mistrust. "Klaus has hybrids stalking me, and now you're just sitting in our kitchen."

"Look, maybe I should go." Tyler said sheepishly as he was about to get up from his seat.

Jeremy shook his head as he took a seat next to him. "No stay. You're not doing anything."

"Unless you have to you know, check in with your hybrid master." Elena said nonchalantly, but one could hear the assertion in her tone of voice.

"It's not like that Elena." Tyler responded calmly back to her.

Alaric gave Tyler a questioning stare. "Tell me Tyler, what's the difference between being sired and being compelled?" He asked him curiously.

Tyler took a deep breath before he started explaining. "Compulsion, that's just mind control, like hypnosis. And being sired is...its like faith. You do something because you believe it's the right thing."

Elena raised her eyebrows at him, not at all falling for what he was saying. "So you believe that serving Klaus is the right thing?"

"I don't serve him." Tyler corrected firmly. "Klaus released me from a curse that was ruining my life. I owe him for that."

Alaric who was also skeptical, narrows his eyes at him. "What if he asked you to jump off a bridge?" He asked waiting to see what his answer would be.

Tyler scoffed finding this question to be ridiculous. "He wouldn't. And even if he did, I'd be fine. I'm a hybrid." He said reminding him and everyone else in the room.

"Okay, so what if he asked you to rip out your own heart?" Elena continued on with the questions.

Tyler gave her a dismissive look. "Again, he wouldn't." He told her curtly.

"What if he did?" Elena insisted.

By this point, Melanie could tell Tyler was losing patience. She was still surprised by his outburst though. Not at all expecting it.

"I don't know! Then I'd rip out my heart!" Tyler exclaimed, irradiated. He took a second to calm down before he saw everyone's startled expressions. Even Jeremy and Melanie were beginning to look at him in wariness. Tyler shook his head. "You guys are like Caroline. Getting all freaked out over something you don't understand."

"You're right Tyler. I don't understand." Elena seethed out. "Klaus has terrorized every single one of us, and you're just blindly loyal to him."

Tyler gave her a defensive look. "You're over thinking it. I can still make my own decisions."

Just as he said this Melanie heard Jeremy's cell phone ring. She frowned a little wondering who would be calling him. She saw as he looked at his cell phones screen before he got up from his seat, excusing himself from the conversation and wandered into the kitchen.

Things got even more awkward after that, and nobody made an attempt to make small talk.

Melanie fell further into her seat, wanting to disappear from the room. In all honesty she really just wanted to be far away from his older sister at the moment. It didn't really help how she was acting, but she couldn't help but blame Elena. Perhaps it was because of her older sisters constant nagging that Rebekah finally decided to just stop being friends with her. Maybe her older sister had been the one to drive the blonde vampire away from her due to the over protectiveness.

This of course made Melanie roll her eyes. She was just making up excuses because she didn't really want to admit the real reason as to why Rebekah had bailed on her. The simple answer was that Rebekah didn't want to be friends with her. The original vampire in no way would even feel the same way she did towards her. This of course made her feel even more worse and she absently started playing with her fingers. It was habitat she did whenever she was feeling down, or when she felt awkward. And right about now she felt the two. Much to her relief, Jeremy had come back into the room. She saw how he hung up the cellphone before he took his seat again.

"What was that about?" Elena asked him.

"It was nothing." Jeremy said throwing away her question.

"I got to go." Tyler suddenly told them as he got up from his seat. "Um, thanks, for the food offer but..." He drawled on awkwardly.

"Next time." Alaric said finishing his sentence.

Tyler nodded his head at him. He then muttered a goodbye to Elena and waved towards Jeremy and Melanie before leaving the house.

Melanie didn't blame him for wanting to leave. Despite having skeptical thoughts towards the sire bond like Elena and Alaric. She still felt like they didn't need to be hard on Tyler. I mean Tyler couldn't control what he was. Just how a person can't control who they like...even despite the person's gender.

Melanie quickly shook her head from her thoughts. This was not the time to dwell and ache about her feelings towards Rebekah.

"So, Tyler Lockwood is a lunatic who has access to our house." Elena said catching Melanie's attention. The youngest Gilbert, wanting to hear more on the conversation came to stand next to Elena and Alaric who were in the kitchen.

"I mean this whole sire bond thing is...weird." Alaric said in a low voice. "I don't think even Tyler is fully aware of what little reason lies behind what he's saying. It's this weird cult logic." He said inputting his own thoughts and opinions into the issue.

Elena sighed shaking her head. She turned to face Melanie who she noticed was right beside them. "Well that's a wonderful influence on you isn't it?" She rhetorically asked her sister with a pointed look before glancing towards Jeremy. "Especially on you Jer―" The oldest Gilbert froze when she didn't see her brother. "Jeremy?" She asked confused as to where he had gone.

Melanie turned around and was equally confused when she didn't see her brother. Where was Jeremy? She walked into the dining room and immediately saw his protection ring on the table.

"That's his ring." Alaric said out loud, bemused as to why he had taken it off.

Melanie picked up the ring examining it, all while she thought the same thing as Alaric.

Elena came over to where they were at and grab the ring from Melanie. She frowned looking at it. "Where did he go?" She asked, concern now plainly evident in her voice.

The three of them heard a noise coming from outside. They turned their heads towards the front door and saw how the door was wide open. They quickly walked outside and right from the porch they saw how Jeremy was standing in the middle of the street.

_What the hell?_ Melanie thought in bemusement. Why was her brother just standing there?

"Jeremy?" Elena called out, but he remained frozen and quiet. At his lack of response she frowned. "What is he doing?"

Suddenly the sound of a speeding car filled up their ears. The three of them looked down at the end of the street and saw how a car was making its way towards Jeremy. This made them feel complete panic because of the car wasn't slowly down...in fact it looked as if it were just going faster towards him.

"Oh my God! Jeremy!" Elena shouted at him, hoping he would move.

But he didn't. He remained in place.

Melanie was shouting at him now too. But like with Elena, her shouts didn't falter him at all.

_Whats wrong with him?!_ Melanie thought as she watched the car come closer. _Move Jer!_

"Jeremy move!" The youngest Gilbert yelled so loud that it even hurt her ears as she and Elena ran towards him.

Alaric though got there before them and jumped in time to push Jeremy out of the cars way. Unfortunately he ended up getting run over by the car instead.

Melanie and Elena were left in shock as they saw Alaric's body on the street laying face down. The both of them got over their initial shock and hurriedly ran towards where their history teacher was at. They turned his body over and instant relief surged though them when they saw that he was wearing his own protection ring.

Just as they were basking this in, the car that had ran Alaric over pulled next to them. The car window rolled down and Elena instantly recognized the man as one of Klaus' hybrids. "There I go again..." He commented with fake innocence. "Bumping into people." He then drove off down the street.

Melanie though had no idea as to who that man was. She turned towards Elena with her eyes wide. "Who the hell was that?" She asked in alarm.

"One of Klaus' hybrids." Elena answered her before Jeremy come over towards them with a hazy expression. His eyes went wide once he saw Alaric's body. "He's gonna be alright." Elena told him as she gestured to the ring he was wearing. She then eyed her brother with worry. "Are you okay?"

Jeremy still seemed out of it. "I don't understand."

Something clicked in Elena's mind. "Who was that on the phone earlier?" She asked him.

A light went off in Jeremy's eyes as he stared back towards his sisters. "It was Klaus!" He said in remembrance.

Melanie and Elena's panic grew when they heard this. The oldest Gilbert composed herself well enough to explain to Jeremy what has happened to him. "You were compelled Jeremy!" She informed him before she looked back towards Alaric's body. "We've gotta get him inside―the both of you need to help me." She told her siblings as they carefully picked up Alaric's body and took him back inside the house.

All while this was happening, Melanie couldn't help but think if Rebekah knew Klaus was planning on doing this to her brother. The youngest Gilbert hoped that she didn't know. Because if Rebekah did know that Klaus was going to do this to Jeremy...well she had a feeling she wouldn't be able to forgive her. Even with the strong feelings she was harboring for her...

* * *

Once the three Gilbert siblings had gently laid down Alaric's body on to their living room couch, Elena hurriedly called Damon. And needless to say it didn't take long for the raven haired vampire to arrive at the Gilbert house.

There was a sense of tension as soon as Damon had entered the household. This didn't come to as a surprise for Melanie though, especially since Alaric had just gotten run over by a car. That alone was bound to cause a lot of tension.

"How is he?" Damon asked looking at the three of them.

Melanie, who was on the floor next to her brother Jeremy, leaned against the living room wall. From where she was at she could see the firm expression plastered on Damon's face. She right away could tell that he was angry and worried.

Elena who was closer to the living room couch, let out a deep breath. "He's dead, but he had his ring." She manged to explain herself more thoroughly this time to him. Not at all hysterical like she had been on the phone with him. "Klaus' hybrid hit him." Her voice then lowered a bit in worry. "Now we just wait." She said looking over at Alaric's injured body with concern.

Having heard this from her, Damon let his eyes wander over towards the two young Gilbert's and that's when his eyes narrowed at the second oldest Gilbert. "Jeremy, why aren't you wearing vervain? Where's your bracelet?" He asked him.

Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows as he looked down at his left wrist. Once he saw that there was nothing there, he looked back towards Damon and blinked. "I don't know..." He said to him, daze like.

Damon then looked at Melanie with a earnest expression. "What about you, Mel?"

"I'm not wearing any...but I still have some left over vervain in my system." Melanie explained to him as she absently played with the sleeve of her flannel.

"It was Tyler." Elena said giving both Jeremy and Melanie a knowing look. Although she made sure that her parental like scolding was leaning more towards Jeremy right now. "It had to have been. That's why he was hanging out with you. To get you off vervain." She vehemently told him.

Damon clenched his jaw. "Klaus is trying to send us a message. He wants us to find Stefan, who stole his coffins full of his dead family members."

Elena turned to look at Damon with a bemused expression. "Coffins?" She repeated back, puzzled.

Melanie on the other hand was surprised to hear that Rebekah's dead family members_—_the very same ones she had mentioned to her before_—_were inside these supposed coffins that Stefan had stolen.

"Yep!" Damon announced gaining Melanie's and everyone else's attention once more. "So all we have to do is find four coffins and_—__viola!_" He said lightheartedly. "No one else on your family's Christmas list needs to die."

"Wait..." Jeremy spoke up sharply, catching everyone's attention. Melanie turned her head to look at him. She right away noticed the _"are you serious"_ stare he was giving Damon. "That's your plan? To steal back four dead originals, so that this evil hybrid doesn't kill me and everyone else we know?" He asked with transparent attitude heavily directed at Damon.

Damon did not appreciate this. He scowled at Jeremy. "You got a better idea?" He retorted back to him.

Melanie saw how Jeremy quickly went to stand up. She was startled by this sudden move, but she managed to keep herself in composure. She kept her brown eyes on Jeremy as he started to act a bit more fervently.

"Yeah!" Jeremy said ardently as he now stood at his full height. "Let's get the hell out of here! Pack our bags and go!" He said directly at his older sister, but Melanie could tell this was aimed towards her as well.

Elena gave Jeremy a soft expression. "Hey, Jeremy, calm down." She said hoping that would lessen his edge. Unfortunately it didn't.

"_No, no_! I'm not gonna calm down, Elena!" Jeremy heavily protested. "This happens every time, no matter what we do! You not only get on my case about school and work, but you're also consistently smothering both me and Mel, telling us we need to be more responsible, and what we can and can't do, who we can and can't hang out with_—_but who cares? None of us are gonna make it out of this town alive!" He shouted at his older sister with absolute emotion, and then without saying another word, he ran upstairs.

The living room was then filled with silence, with only the sound of the living room clock ticking.

Melanie who was still on the floor, looked towards to where her brother had ran off to. Although she hadn't said a word during his unexpected rant, she couldn't help but agree with everything he had just told Elena. Because in her opinion, Jeremy did have a point. A very valid and major point. Why did any of this unavailing nonsense, like going to school and being "responsible", even matter anymore? Why did Elena have to consistently breathe on her neck about being "safe". There was no such thing as being "safe" here in Mystic Falls. Not ever since vampires came into their life. Since then everything had been one giant mess, filled with only danger and heartbreak.

_Speaking about heartbreak..._

Melanie felt her stomach tighten. _Damn heartbreak. _That only in return made her think about Rebekah...and she couldn't offered to feel like this right now. Not in front of Elena and Damon. She took a deep breath and clenched her fists, before she stood up from the floor, and started making her way towards the stairs.

Elena saw how her sister started to walk away too. "Mel_—" _She began to say, but stopped as soon as Melanie spun around to look at her.

"_What_?" Melanie snapped at her. She didn't necessarily want to sound so harsh. But with everything that was going on, like her brother almost getting killed, Alaric getting run over, and her strong feelings for Rebekah, just made her indignation escalate to a whole new level.

Elena was taken back by her attitude, but she muddled through. "Where are you going?" She asked her in concern.

"Where does it look like?" Melanie said in a caustic way. Her demeanor changed though as soon as she saw her sister's face fall in dejection. She mentally berated herself, since she knew her older sister was just asking because she was worried for her. And even though her concern annoyed her to no ends, she composed herself a bit. "Up to my room." She said in a gentler tone to her. She of course still sounded somewhat mad, but not as before. Melanie then saw how Elena's expression faltered up a little bit in distress and saw how she was ready to talk again. But before she could ask her anymore invasive questions, she spoke up. "Let me know when he wakes up." Melanie said gazing at Alaric momentarily, her expression turning grim. She then hurriedly made her way upstairs. She just needed to be alone right now. Alone in her room and away from everyone else. She needed time to wallow over her feelings for Rebekah, and time to process everything that had happened so far today. So with that thought alone, she slammed her bedroom door shut, and excluded herself from the outside world.

Elena sighed in angst, as she heard the sound of her sister's door being slammed shut. It caused her to feel great unease with the way both of her siblings were acting, but especially with Melanie. The oldest Gilbert had been noticing how vexed, woe, and closed off she had been acting. Getting drunk at the Homecoming, giving her attitude. It just didn't sit well with her. Deep down though Elena had a feeling as to why Melanie was acting this way. But she had to keep telling herself that daggering Rebekah had been a good thing. She didn't trust her at all with the plan they had with killing Klaus, and even if they failed in succeeding through with that plan, the outcomes would of probably been a whole lot worse if Rebekah had been there. Besides, she didn't like the fact that Melanie and her were friends. Even despite Melanie saying Rebekah in no way was a danger to her, Elena didn't see her side of things. If she'd knew one thing for sure, it was that the Mikaelson's were a danger to everyone. With the exception of maybe perhaps Elijah, but even he was not a force to be dealt with. So she in now way wanted Melanie to be associated with any of them...but especially with _Rebekah_. Unfortunately, as she was thinking this a sudden thought entered her mind. And as much as she wanted to ignore this thought and throw it away, she knew she couldn't. The life of her brother had almost been taken away, all because of Klaus. She in no way could ignore that. Maybe the next time he struck, it would be Melanie's life at risk. Elena couldn't have either of her siblings in danger. So if she needed to give him the one person she wanted daggered the most, then fine she would. She gazed back at Damon and gave him a knowing look. "He said he wants his family back." She slowly informed him.

Damon face faltered, already knowing where she was going with this. "No. No, I know what you're thinking. The answer's no."

"If we give him Rebekah..." Elena trailed on with persistence.

"Yeah, then Klaus undaggers her. First thing she does is kill you." Damon retorted back to her. "Frying pan, fire. Not an option." He said ending the idea.

Elena bit the inside of her cheek. What Damon was saying was true. If Klaus did undagger Rebekah, the blonde vampire would not hesitate to come after her. She would also tell Melanie, about what she had done to her. Which was something Elena was dreading to happen...for Melanie to know the truth of what she did to Rebekah. She was ashamed to tell her, that her blonde friend had been daggered by her. Melanie with out a doubt, would be extremely mad at her. But that was something Elena could not dwell on at the moment. With that in mind she focused on the current topic. "Klaus' coffins...how many did you say they were?" She asked him, wanting to distant herself from the guilt she was feeling. Besides, right now she needed to figure out a way to stop Klaus from coming after her family members. She would deal with the whole daggering Rebekah and not telling her sister about it nonsense later. Much later.

* * *

Melanie had no idea how long she'd been in her room wallowing. A few hours at the most probably. She knew for sure that it was night time now. On the account that she had watched the sun set from her bedroom window. While alone in her room though she had time to think about a few things. One of those things involving a certain blonde beauty. The same blonde beauty that was currently making her heart ache with such new emotion, she'd never felt before.

This emotion only grew more when she had watched the sun set. She had no idea as to why, but it just did. It made her heart tremble with sorrow, but it also caused a sense of anger to wash through her. Everything that had happened today just fueled the pain and aggravation she was feeling.

With Jeremy almost getting killed.

Alaric getting run over.

Her on growing and strong feelings she felt towards Rebekah.

All these things just made her feel extremely overwhelmed.

Also add to the fact that she was mad at herself for not being able to stop Jeremy from being compelled. She should of noticed when Tyler compelled him. She was there with him! But yet she hadn't noticed. She must of been to busy thinking about Rebekah, that she missed when Tyler compelled Jeremy. So thanks to her crush on Rebekah, her own brother had almost been killed. That was just unforgivable. Melanie just hoped...prayed even that Rebekah did not know about this. That Klaus didn't tell her how he was going to use Jeremy as collateral damage in order to get what he wanted. Because if she knew, and didn't tell her about it, Melanie didn't think she would be able to forgive her...

She had half a mind to call Rebekah and ask her, but what good would that do? The blonde original vampire would probably ignore her calls, just like she had been ignoring her since Homecoming. So why call and humiliate herself even more? It would be pointless. Not to mention she wouldn't be able to handle anymore rejection...not if it came from Rebekah. Her heart wouldn't be able to handle it. Oh but how much she wanted to hear Rebekah's lovely British voice...that thought alone almost had her calling her, but she quickly restrained herself.

_Get a hold of yourself!_

Melanie thought to herself as she laid on her bed. She currently was staring up at the ceiling of her bedroom with a broken expression set on her face.

Maybe things would be easier for her she were to leave and go somewhere else. Somewhere were it wasn't as chaotic and dangerous as it was here in Mystic Falls. But as soon as she thought about this, Melanie scoffed. She couldn't just get up and leave. Not with out her family anyways. But deep down she wondered how things would be if she were far away from Mystic Falls...away from vampires...away from Rebekah...would her feelings decrease? Would she finally stop longing to be with her? Would she be able to stop lov_—_

Her heart felt thoughts came to a halt, as soon she heard the familiar sound of sister screaming. With out even waiting another second, Melanie got off from her bed and raced down stairs. She in no way was expecting to see the scene happening right in front of her. There on the living room floor was Alaric coughing up blood violently.

"What happened?!" Melanie asked with wide eyes as she made her way down the stairs.

"I_—_I don't know! I just came back and he was barely waking up but then he just started coughing up blood before he collapsed." Elena cried out. "Somethings wrong with the ring or something, but I_—_I don't know!"

"Where the hell is Jeremy?" Melanie asked in hysterics, as knelt down beside Alaric. The history teacher was still coughing up a lot of blood.

Elena faltered a bit. "I don't know. He's not here.." She tried to compose herself. "I thought it was just me and Alaric...I thought you left too."

Melanie glanced up at her sister hearing she voice break, before she managed to focus on what they needed to do. "Elena we need to call the paramedics. Now!"

Elena listened and quickly called the paramedics. After that she knelt down next Melanie, as they both held onto Alaric as he coughed up more blood. After a while, Alaric's body stopped moving and both girls grew even more worried. Melanie checked for a pulse, and felt relieved to have found one. It was a weak one but it was a pulse nonetheless. Alaric still really needed to be taken to the hospital though.

Just as Melanie was thinking about this, there was a sudden knock on the front door. Elena got up and went to the answer the door. She came face to face with two male paramedics.

"What happened?" One of them asked Elena as soon as she opened the door.

"He got hit by a car...and he's coughing up blood." Elena informed them as the two paramedics came inside.

Melanie got out of the way of the paramedics, and went to stand next to Elena.

"Get his vitals." Melanie heard one of the paramedics say to the other one.

"Pulse pretty weak. Looks like internal bleeding." The other paramedic stated out loud. "We gotta get him out of here."

"Let's move." The first paramedic said agreed, ready to take Alaric to the hospital.

"Let's not and say we did."

Once hearing that new voice, Melanie and Elena turned around to the front door and saw someone standing there. It was then that Melanie realized that this was the same person, who had run over Alaric. One of Klaus' hybrids.

"Why don't you two meet us at the hospital?" The hybrid said looking at the paramedics, and in complete trance, the two paramedics left the house. Melanie quickly went back to Alaric's side, trying to give him some sort of help and comfort, now that the paramedics had abandoned him.

"What?" Elena asked shock. "No, no, no! You have to help him!" She called after the paramedics, but they continued on as if they had not heard her. "What are you doing?" She growled at the hybrid who was leaning against the front doors entry.

The hybrid shrugged nonchalantly. "You can still save his life, Elena. Here." He said offering his wrist before he sighed in mock exasperation."I can't get in. One of you two is going to have to invite me in." He said pointedly looking at both Elena and Melanie.

Elena gave a look that disagreed, and Melanie quickly took notice to this. The youngest Gilbert then focused on balancing Alaric's head on her lap.

"No, why are you doing this?" Elena asked, her voice wavering.

"Klaus asked for his family. You didn't deliver." The hybrid retorted back to her.

As soon as he said this, Melanie felt Alaric begin to cough again. She saw blood drip down to the side of this mouth. "Elena!" She yelled out, catching her older sister's attention.

Elena hurriedly ran over towards them, and knelt beside Alaric again. "It's okay, I'm here." She said trying to bring some sort of solace.

"Might want to invite me in." The hybrid said,snidely from the front door. Melanie and Elena looked at one another as if they were silently communicating with each other. Before of one them said anything, they both heard a sound of a arrow hitting something. They looked back towards the front door and saw how the hybrid fall to the ground. Both girls were immediate relieved to see none other than Jeremy standing a few feet away, with Alaric's crossbow.

"Jeremy!" Elena cried out making her way towards him. Melanie stayed where she was at and kept trying to help Alaric with his coughing fit.

"He's not dead yet." Jeremy brusquely informed his older sister as he made his way inside the house. Melanie watched as he made his way into the kitchen before he came back with a large butchers knife in hand. Her brown eyes widen at the sight of it, but she remained shell shocked quiet. _This isn't going to end well..._She thought to herself. And boy was she right.

Elena too was taken back by this. "What are you_—_" Her question though was cut short as soon as Jeremy hacked the hybrids head off with butchers knife. Completely detaching it from it's body. She let out a surprised scream and quickly turned away. She still caught some sight of how her brother cut off the hybrids head off. Melanie on the other hand had witnessed the whole entire thing and she became frozen with even more shock.

"Now he's dead." Jeremy said blood covering his hands and body. He either didn't notice or didn't care because he made his way inside, acting as if he just hadn't cut off a hybrids head. "We've got to get Alaric to the hospital now." He said out loud, jolting Melanie out of her shocked state. She managed to compose herself and than began helping Jeremy, as they moved Alaric's body back onto the couch. After that she watched as Jeremy grabbed the house phone to call for help.

Meanwhile, as this was happening,, Elena was still standing by the front door, deeply unnerved to the core because of what Jeremy had just done. .

* * *

After careful examination by the doctor, Alaric was finally able to leave the hospital. Damon had been the one to drop him, along with Jeremy and Melanie off at the hospital. Elena had decided to stay behind. When they had left, Melanie noticed how unnerved her older sister still was. And although she wanted to say something to comfort her, she just couldn't bring herself to do so. Everything now though seemed to be alright with Alaric, and the doctor he had was clearly astonished by his well being. Although, Jeremy and Melanie knew the reason behind this. It was because of Damon's blood that really healed Alaric internally from the injuries he had.

"So, the ring brought you back to life, but it didn't heal you? Does that mean it's broken?" Jeremy asked Alaric. Melanie too was confused at the fact that the ring wasn't able to heal him completely this time.

Alaric shrugged his shoulders as the three of them continued to walk through the hospitals parking lot. "I don't know. It's never happened like that before. I guess I have Damon's blood to thank for the fact that I'm still walking."

"He said to say you owe him a drink." Jeremy said in a ease like tone.

Alaric scoffed. "That's funny. I'd rather have head trauma." He commented lightly, but he noticed how quiet both of Jeremy, and especially Mel were. He stopped in his tracks, making them stop as well. "Hey...are two okay?" Alaric asked with a troubled expression.

Melanie shrugged her shoulders and focused on staring at her shoes, while Jeremy spoke up for the both of them.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?" Jeremy asked rhetorically. "I mean I shot a hybrid in the back and chopped his head off with a meat cleaver in front of my sisters. What?Typical Sunday, huh?" He mused with heavy sarcasm.

"You guys can talk to me about this stuff. You both know that, right?" Alaric told them with a soft expression set on his face.

"What could you tell us that we don't already know?" Jeremy retorted. "This is the way things are. It sucks, but we just got to get use to it." He said to Alaric before he started walking ahead.

Alaric sighed and then looked over towards Melanie. The youngest Gilbert wasn't even looking at him, but instead was looking at her shoes. This caused to him frown in distress. "What about you Mel?' He asked gently. "Is that what you think to?" He said inwardly hoping she would say something to him. She had been quiet ever since they had first arrived at the hospital a couple hours ago. Alaric knew Melanie well enough now to know that whenever she's was completely silent, that meant something was deeply bothering her. This was something he noticed from the first time meeting her. He knew of her past depression and such. How she kept quiet, refusing to talk to anyone, for months after the passing of her parents. Elena had been the one to tell him about this. The youngest Gilbert, although sometimes hard at the exterior, did in fact have many emotional issues, and this of course caused Alaric to feel despair. Ever since Jenna's passing, and becoming the official guardian to the Gilbert's, he's come to see himself as a father figure to them. Especially towards Melanie. Out of all the Gilbert siblings she was the one who needed the most guidance...so seeing her quite and sad made him feel like he had failed her. It really did. He just wanted to know what was bothering her. If she really thought the same way Jeremy did.

Melanie looked up from her shoes and slowly turned to face him. She saw how he was patiently waiting for her to reply back...to say anything to him. And while she wanted to stay in absolute silence, she decided to speak up. "Yes." She answered him with a grim like tone. She saw how his expression fell. Her response to this was merely a shrug as she continued on with her opinion. "It is what it is, Alaric. It's either kill or be killed." As she said this she couldn't help but think back to when her brother chopped off that hybrids head off.

Was it disturbing? Yes. Would that image always be implanted in her head? Probably. Was she mad at her brother for doing that? No. Not at all.

Like she had told Alaric. It's either kill or be killed. Meaning that if she for some reason was in a situation were it required her to fight for her life, she'd do that. She wouldn't go with out a fight. Therefore, she had to agree with her brother for the second time today. Because they really needed to just get use to the chaos they lived in. It sucked a lot, but if they were to stay here in Mystic Falls, then they really needed to get with the program. If they didn't then they wouldn't last very long. Simple as that. Although she could see based on Alaric's face, that he in fact think it was that simple to follow. She saw how his eyes soften and how his mouth was closing and opening, almost as if he were trying to figure out what to say to her. But before he say anything to her, she spoke up.

"Look...do me a favor and don't worry about me. I'm fine really."

Alaric didn't look convinced. "Mel-" he began but was interrupted.

"I said don't worry about me." Melanie said in a harder voice. She got a hold of herself and ran a hand through her hair. "Let's just stop talking about this, okay?" She asked looking at him with a pleading expression.

"Okay." Alaric said nodding his head, despite him wanting to continue on with the conversation. It was obvious though that Melanie was over it.

"Alright, good." Melanie said relieved they were through with the conversation. She then began making her way through the parking lot.

Alaric furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, where are you going?"

Melanie glanced over her shoulder to look at him.

"Just gonna go for a walk. I need some alone time right now, Ric."

"What about Elena?" Alaric asked her.

Melanie inwardly scoffed, but her answer out loud was well composed."I'll deal with her parental wrath later. Right now I just need to be alone." And with out another word, she turned back and continued on walking.

Alaric knew he should of gone after her. Elena would of definitely not allowed for Melanie to go off on her own right now. But something told him that she really needed space apart from everyone_—_especially from Elena. So he let her be, in hopes that this walk would somehow make her feel less dispirited with everything that she was going through. Deep down though he knew it wouldn't, not really...but he still hoped it would some how help her in one way or another.

* * *

Melanie initially only intended on going for a walk because she wanted to be alone—and that's what she did. Except what she hadn't intended on doing was going to Matt's house. It was completely unanticipated, not to mention totally unplanned, but with what went on today, she _needed_ someone to talk to. Whether she wanted to admit that out loud or not. She just wanted (actually no, she needed) to vent about everything that had occurred. This was something that was quite disparate to Melanie. Since it wasn't that along ago that she was this repressed young girl who hardly liked to talk about her problems and feelings. She liked burying things deep inside her. Not wanting anyone to know what was going on with her. Not her friends nor her family members. The last thing she wanted was for them to feel bad and worry over her. She already had enough with Elena's mother hen routine. Besides they all had their own problems to deal with. So why unease them with hers? It seemed like a selfish thing for her to do. Not to mention she never liked being seen as weak. She was already the youngest of the group. So with that she needed to be strong and well put together, especially with the life she had.

She remembered when the act of not talking first started. It was when she was a child. From her recollection it was mainly just small incidents, when she wouldn't talk to anyone. But those only lasted for short time. Many just assumed that she was just shy, and it was easily forgotten. It wasn't seen as something serious, just a small phase she was going through. However that all changed after her parents died. Once her parents passed way...well her not wanting to talk to anyone escalated and it seemed like it was going to stay that way. She didn't talk to anyone for _months_. Not to her friends, aunt Jenna, Jeremy, and especially not to Elena. She just stayed silent. The quiet one of the Gilberts. A lot of people in town wondered why she was like that. Which was something Melanie noticed right away. She heard the whispers of people and noticed their puzzled stares whenever she passed them. Mystic Falls after all was a small town and with the passing of her parents and her extreme introverted behavior, certainly had people talking...

_Selective Mutism_ is what they called it. Her _condition_...but Melanie never liked putting a label on her so called "condition." So she didn't like to talk back then? Big deal. It was her way of dealing with grief. Many people dealt with grief differently. Although not all the ways were necessarily good. Take Jeremy for example. He dealt with the passing of their parents by taking drugs and alcohol. And although she did engage with alcoholic tendencies every once in a while in order to cope with her own grief, taking drugs was not something she did. That was a line she certainly never wanted to cross. She had her limits, and she was glad that Jeremy no longer partook in that anymore.

Of course her non-talking "issue" was no longer an issue anymore. Well scratch that...it wasn't..._most_ of the time. Because even after the emotional confrontation she had with Elena, and with her finally talking for the first time in months after her parent's passing, there were still times were Melanie refused to talk. One example of this would be when she figured out the truth about vampires and that Elena had been lying not only to her, but to everyone else about their existence. That certainly put a strained in their sibling relationship. She didn't talk to her for at least a couple of weeks. But that wasn't out of grief, no it was out of _anger_.

If there was anything Melanie hated in this whole world, it was when people lied to her. And Elena had lied to her. Her older sister said it was because she just wanted to protect her, and although Melanie understood that notion, she was still deeply hurt. Of course though, Melanie ended up forgiving her and the two of them made up and moved on. It was just something Melanie knew she couldn't hold a grudge on forever. They needed each other. But she made it point clear with those couple of weeks, of her ignoring and not acknowledging Elena, what would happen if she angered her like that again with _lies_. Because if there was one thing that bothered Elena a lot, it was when either of her younger sibling were mad at her. But she especially hated it whenever Melanie refused to talk to her. And as much as Melanie loved her older sister, there were times were she wished she could go a couple of days with out having to deal with Elena's "parental" control. Melanie knew she meant well, but it was just too much to handle. Luckily Jeremy understood her better and didn't smoother her like Elena. Which is why she preferred spending time with him than Elena. And it also helped that he wasn't consistently breathing down her neck about what she could or could not do. And with who she couldn't hang out with...

Speaking of people Elena had said she didn't want her hanging out with...

If there was one person in this whole Melanie just loved being around and had no trouble talking to...it had to be Rebekah. The blonde original vampire compared to everyone else in Mystic Falls, was like a breath of fresh air.

_A gem among stones._

A rare beauty. Inside and out. She was absolutely Melanie was with her...it was complete bliss. There was no pressure when she talked to her and she didn't need to overthink things.

Everything that came out of her, although bashful, ended up being a remarkable memory for her. She didn't need to hide herself anymore and the most important thing was that Rebekah made her feel like she wasn't a waste of space. That she wasn't a burden. That she _mattered_. She actually made her feel happy...which was something Melanie hardly felt now a days. So she had no trouble talking to Rebekah...but now that she was AWOL, well that made quite a damage within Melanie's self-esteem. She left her...and there was a possibility that she knew about Klaus' plan to hurt her loved ones. Oh, but how she hoped that Rebekah didn't know anything about that...cause if she did...well that would of caused a even bigger hole in her heart. Perhaps she was an idiot for catching feelings for Rebekah in the first place...but she couldn't help it. She was just so... awe-inspiring.

The blonde original vampire had been through a lot in her life and yet she still had the energy to continue on. If Melanie had to go through what she went through...who knows if she would have been able to stay as strong as her. But that was one of the many reasons why she liked Rebekah so much. She was strong...yet stunning... but there was something about her that still showed off how fragile she was. Kind of like how she was too. Which is why Melanie felt connected to her...two souls who each have been through their own turmoils finally finding each other. But now her blonde gem was gone...and Melanie felt empty. And no matter how much she wanted to shake off that feelings, she _couldn't_. And it wasn't like she could talk to just anybody in order to cope with this feeling, along with what happened today. Actually, there were several close people she could confide in with the whole vampire/hybrid drama, but there weren't many she could vent about with the whole Rebekah thing.

Well _technically_ there was one person she could talk to..._Matt_.

Matt was the only person who knew about her secret...so he was definitely someone she could confide in. He was trustworthy and she knew that he would actually listen to her without judging her.

So that's why she was currently at his house.

"_Whoa_.." Matt said flabbergasted as he sat on his living room couch. He was momentarily shell-shocked after hearing Melanie explain to him about everything that happened today. Starting with Jeremy being compelled to stand in front of a moving car, Alaric pushing him out of the way and him getting hit by the car instead, his ringing malfunctioning, and then lastly on how Jeremy cut off a hybrid's head off without even blinking an eye. It was a lot to take in, but since the discovery of vampires, or anything supernatural, Matt's learned that anything in Mystic Falls was indeed possible. But man...the things he missed because he was stuck at work still astonished him greatly. To even think that Jeremy and Alaric could of been killed today was just dreadful.

Melanie, who was sitting next to him on his couch, let out a scoff. "Whoa, is an understatement." She said with a acerbic tone of voice.

"So why do you think the ring malfunctioned?" Matt asked her.

Melanie sighed and leaned further onto the couch. "I don't know. I'm just glad that he woke up. Guess we have Damon to thank for that."

Mat nodded his head absently. "Yeah, guess we do." He said before moving his blue eyes at her in concern. "So how are _you_? After all that?" He couldn't help but ask. She seemed relaxed on the outside, but who knows how she was in the inside. He knew how well she was at hiding her feelings.

Melanie's demeanor faltered a bit, but she quickly went to dismiss it. "I don't know." She answered numbly. "I mean how does one feel after watching their brother hack off a hybrid's head off?" She asked with blank sarcasm. The room was filled with silence but Melanie could feel Matt's worried gaze on her. She closed her eyes for a second and then looked back toward's Matt again. This time she was more real and honest with him. Besides this was why she came here in the first place. To talk. "I guess you could say I'm in a state of shock..." She said despairingly. "But like I said to Alaric, it is what it is. If Jeremy hadn't have done that then who knows how things might of turned out..."

Matt seemed slightly discorded, but he managed to give her a look of understanding. "Yeah...man things just seem to be getting crazier and crazier everyday." He commented, baffled like. "First Homecoming and now this? You think by now we'd be use to it..."

At the mention of Homecoming Melanie began getting a feeling desolateness. She started messing with her fingers as a response to this. A image of Rebekah entered her mind and she instantly felt her heartbeat pick up. A split second of hope entered her as soon as she saw the blonde beauty in her mind. However that quickly went away. She lowered her eyes to the floor when she reminded herself that Rebekah wasn't here with her...that she left without even saying good-bye to her.

Matt took a notice her behavior and immediately knew the reason behind it. He felt like kicking himself. He should of been more careful with mentioning Homecoming. Of course it would of caused a reaction like this out of Melanie. He knew she was still hurt...but he also knew that perhaps talking about it would be helpful towards her. So he decided to go with that. Anything to help a friend that he viewed like a younger sister.

"How are you? You know, regarding the other _thing_?" Matt asked her gently.

Melanie stopped playing with her fingers as soon as she heard this. She lifted her gaze back up towards him and froze. Although this was exactly the other reason as to why she came here, she remained quiet. Matt remained quiet as well not at all pressuring her to talk. Which as something she appreciated. He was letting her taker her time and that actually did help her get rid of her nerves a bit. She had to remind herself once again that this was Matt...one of her best friend. That he had to ill intentions towards her. Hell he knew about her liking girls and he made no homophobic comments towards her. He accepted her...

So with complete trust in him, she answered back.

"She left..." She said letting her voice crack a bit, but she hurriedly went to harden it again.

"You don't know that for sure." Matt said trying to be optimistic with her. "Something might of came up and she needed to leave town." His eyes soften as he spoke to her. "She could still come back."

Melanie although heartbroken, decided to lean on her obdurate side. "No, if something important came up she would of told me in person. Or at least she would of called or texted to let me know." She shook her head. "She hasn't even responded back to any of my messages. No, she's ignoring me." She gave Matt a dejected look. "It's probably for the best anyways..." She said, glum taking over her exterior.

"Melanie..." Matt said, but was interrupted by Melanie.

"No think about it Matt. What kind of future would I even have with Rebekah?" She asked vehemently. "It would of never worked out."

Matt narrowed his blue eyes at her. "And why not?" He asked.

Melanie gave him a hard look. "You know why." Was all she said to him before looking at the living room wall ahead of her.

"If this has to do with her being a girl, who cares. This is the twenty first century. You can like whoever you want." Matt prompted encouragingly to her. "I mean you do like Rebekah, don't you?"

Melanie felt her heart pick up speed again. "Of course I like her." She answered honestly. It was only then after she said that, that she realized this it was the first time she said her real feelings for Rebekah out loud. Well rather than her drunken out burst she had, but this time she was one hundred percent sober. And she could actually feel her cheeks start to warm up. Her feelings were genuine. But what Matt said still whirled around her mind. _You can like whoever you want_. Pssh. _If only it were that easy..._Melanie thought, because although what Matt said was kind, not everyone had that stand point of view. "Mystic Falls is a small town Matt." The young Gilbert said dejectedly. "People talk, and not everyone is going to have that same opinion."

"Well then forget them Mel." Matt ended up saying. "It's _your_ life, not theirs."

Melanie felt her mouth turn up. Talking to Matt was making her feel slightly better and hearing him say these things to her helped her inner turmoil as well. Unfortunately, it didn't vanquish all her worries. There was still one that remained...and that was Elena. Even if Rebekah did come back, and by some miracle Melanie somehow had the courage to tell her that she liked her, and that the blonde original vampire returned the same romantic feelings she had, the youngest Gilbert still had to deal with Elena. Not to mention she would have to tell everyone about her being a lesbian. Which was something she wasn't necessarily ready to tell them yet...but she especially didn't want Elena finding out. She wasn't so much worried about the fact of her finding out that she liked girls—_okay maybe she wa_s—but it had more to do with the specific girl she liked. The one girl Elena absolutely did not approve of. If she disliked Rebekah being her friend, one could only imagine how she'll react when she finds out that her younger sister has actual strong feelings towards the blonde original vampire.

"Elena would never approve." Melanie said somewhat bitterly.

Matt chuckled a bit. "Since when has Elena ever stopped you from doing your own thing."

At this Melanie let out a smile and turned to look at him again. "True..." She said jestingly.

There was another moment of silence before Matt's face softened. "But in all honesty, you shouldn't hold back because of others. That being said though, it's totally your decision when you want to tell people. Whenever you're fully ready. Just know that I'll be here for you."

Melanie's smile faltered a bit due to what he said. It wasn't bad thing though it was more emotional, because what he said reminded her of the letter he had written her. "Thanks, Matt..." She said, her face in result softening as well.

Matt nodded his head before looking the clock that was on the living room wall. "It's getting late. How about I drive you back home." He said before he got up from the couch.

Melanie stood up from the couch as well. "No that's okay." She said as she made her way to his front door.

Matt furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you sure?" He asked her.

Melanie just gave him another rare smile of hers. "Yeah, don't worry about it. Besides I could use the fresh air the night has to offer." She said as she opened the front door, before she stepped out though she turned towards him again. "Hey, Matty?" She called out gently.

At the sound of Melanie using that doting nickname, Matt turned to look at her. "Yeah?"

Melanie gave him a soft expression. "Thank you ...for everything." She said to him meaningfully.

Matt right away understood by when she said _everything_. For him driving her home, taking care of her, writing the letter, and offering her the one thing she needed the most at the moment...support. In return he gave her a kind-hearted smile. "Anytime Mel."

Melanie gave him one last smile before she stepped out his front door and made her way home. During her walk she thought about everything they had just talked about, all while a mental image of Rebekah played in her head.

* * *

The walk back to her house was a lot faster than Melanie intended it to be. However she knew that getting back to her house the sooner was better. She did after still have to deal with Elena. So with a huff, Melanie finally opened her front house door and stepped in. Already full on ready for Elena's lecture about her disregarding her safety and coming home late.

When she came inside though the sight before her slightly threw her off. Yes, Elena was there, but she was sitting on one of the living room couches. And when she lifted her gaze onto her's, Melanie saw how her older sister remained seated with a tense expression. Although it wasn't the same expression her sister would use when berating her. So this was weird and concerning. Had something else happened? She hoped not...

Melanie walked closer towards her. "Whats up?" She warily asked.

Elena pursed her lips. "It's late." She said, her voice lower than usual.

Melanie took notice of this and it found odd. What was even more odd was that she hadn't started lecturing her right away. Perhaps Elena was just working up to it? Whatever the reason was, the youngest Gilbert was still taking caution for her older sister's behavior.

"Yeah, I went to take a walk. Clear my head, from all that went on today." Melanie started saying. "Ended up at Matt's house and we talked for a bit." She thought for sure that would get a parental scolding from Elena, but no, her sister remained seated and tense. This unnerved Melanie even more. She decided to be blunt. "What's going on?" She finally asked, as she now stood in front of her sister. "Is it Jeremy? Is he okay?" She found herself asking quickly.

"Jeremy's fine. He's upstairs in his room sleeping." Elena calmly told her.

Melanie felt relief for a few seconds, before speaking up. "Why the serious face then?"

Elena sighed, and patted the couch. Indicating for Melanie to take a seat next to her. Once she did that, Elena turned to face her. Her expression instead of tense, was now filled with sorrow.

"Look I have something to tell you." Elena started off saying, her voice somber. "You have to promise me you won't overreact when I do."

Melanie's nerves escalated, and she full on ignored what her sister said. "Just tell me already." She said as she gripped the edge of the cough tightly. She mentally was now preparing herself for bad news.

Elena let out a aghast sigh. She took notice that her sister didn't promise anything. This made her feel slight dismay, because she knew how unwell Melanie can take unexpected news. And what she was about to tell her, was indeed unexpected news for her. But the more she stared at younger sister, the more she knew she couldn't keep that news to herself anymore. Elena just had to keep reminding herself that what she was about to tell Melanie was for her own good.

"Jeremy's leaving."

Those words completely threw Melanie off. Not at all expecting for _that _to be what Elena needed to tell her. And although it wasn't horrible devastating news, it still hit something emotional within her. Her grip on the couch loosened and she blinked a couple times before speaking. "What?" She managed to say, her voice wavering a bit.

Elena steadied her voice. She kept her eyes on Melanie. "I said Jeremy's leaving."

Melanie shook her head. "No, I got that part. I heard you say that. What I want to know is why?"

Elena felt her stomach drop a bit. She figured this feeling was more due to the guilt she felt, rather than real stomach problems. She knew that Melanie was going to be asking her this question. It was to be expected after all. Her sister was always the attentive one. Despite this though, Elena needed to keep her cool. Melanie would know right away she was lying, if she didn't remain composed. "You heard him earlier, Melanie." She said ardently. The gaze she had on her faltered a bit. "He doesn't want to be here. He doesn't feel safe, not that I blame him. How can I force him to be here, especially after what happened today?"

Melanie right away understood what her sister meant. After what happened today, she too was starting to doubt she was safe anymore. But for Jeremy to actually leave Mystic Falls, away from Elena, away from her? That was just...too hard to believe. It couldn't be true...then again it could. She was present when she heard him give out that whole "lets pack up our bags and go" rant. She thought maybe it was just him having a spur of the moment thing, but having heard her sister say he was actually leaving, just made Melanie realize how real he was being. Despite this though, she couldn't help but feel slight anger. She narrowed her gaze on Elena.

"So what? You're just gonna let him leave? Just like that? I mean where is he going to go?" She questioned heatedly.

Not at all expecting for her sister to suddenly lash out on her, Elena frowned. "Melanie it's what he wants." As soon as those words left her mouth the feeling she had in her stomach intensified. _Just ignore the guilt. This is for her own good. It's for both of their own good. Jeremy and Melanie. _She tried ignoring the feel once more. "He's going to be staying with some family friends in Denver. You remember them, don't you?"

_Denver? _As in Colorado? He was going that far away? That just made Melanie feel even more distress. She knew which family friends Elena was talking about. That wasn't the issue. The issue was that Jeremy was leaving. Her brother was leaving Mystic Falls. He was leaving her. And that hurt. Truth be told, Melanie had always been closer with Jeremy than she was with Elena. Maybe it had to do with the fact that they were closer in age. With them being Irish twins. Only being eleven months apart from age. But truthfully, Melanie just felt more comfortable with Jeremy. He understood her better than Elena. And he was made her feel better. Although, it's not like she disliked Elena's company. It's just sometimes her over-protectiveness and smothering was too much to endure.

"Melanie..." Elena said, diverting Melanie's attention from her thoughts. The youngest Gilbert had to shake her head to get focused again. "I think you should go too." She told her earnestly.

Melanie leaned away from her, further into the couch. Her eyes grew wide from hearing her say this. She frowned. "Excuse me?"

Elena right away heard how appalled she sounded. She let out a sigh. "I think you should go too. To Denver with, Jeremy." When she saw how cross Melanie looked, Elena softened her voice. Taking a gentler approach. "I just feel it would be better if you weren't in Mystic Falls. Jeremy's right...you guys aren't safe here."

Melanie furrowed her eyebrows. "So, since Jeremy is leaving, you want to get rid of me too?"

Elena's brown eyes widen. "Melanie, I don't want to get rid of you or Jeremy." She replied, feeling shock that she had said that.

Melanie remained stern with her. "Well it sure feels that way."

Elena shook her head. "No, I just want you guys to be safe. So if that means that the two of you have to leave Mystic Falls, then so be it."

Melanie's hard exterior faltered a bit. "What if I don't want to though?"

Elena, although not liking what she said, kept calm. "It's your choice." She looked at Melanie and despite how hard she had been with her, Elena was beginning to see her come through with what she was saying. She decided to work with that. "But do you really want to remain here in Mystic Falls?"

Melanie lowered her gaze onto the floor. "You're here. So is Alaric, Bonnie, Caroline, Matt." _Rebekah too. _Melanie mentally betrayed herself. She really needed to stop thinking about the blonde original vampire. It wasn't helping her feel better. Besides...she probably wasn't even in Mystic Falls anymore. Much to her disappointment...

"I'm sure they would understand your decision for leaving." Elena softly reassured her. "And if you're worried for me, don't. I'll be fine. You know that."

Melanie, to her surprise was actually taking what her sister said into consideration. If she were being honest with herself, other than Elena and her semi amount small group of friends, there wasn't another reason for her to stay in Mystic Falls. And just like Elena had said, she was sure their friends would understand her wanting to leave. Also, if she left Mystic Falls she wouldn't have to be in constant worry about getting hurt or killed. No more having to deal with vampires, hybrids, or anything supernatural life threatening. It was better that way.

Except leaving Mystic Falls also meant she was leaving any chance of ruining into a certain vampire. A original blonde haired, blue eyed, cheek freckled vampire. Now did she really want that? Did she really want to leave behind any chance of coming face to face with her again?

Melanie was left feeling a mix of different emotions.

Elena could practically feel the inner turmoil Melanie was having, just based on her expression. Once again her guilt was beginning to rise. She tried ignoring it as she spoke up. "Why don't you get a good night sleep on it. Jeremy isn't leaving until in a couple of days. You got time to think it over."

Melanie couldn't muster up anything else to say, so she just grimly nodded her head. She then got up from the couch and walked up the stairs.

Elena was left watching her sister go upstairs. Once she heard the sound of her bedroom door opening and closing, she let her collected exterior drop. She ran a hand through her hair and released a tired sigh. Now that Melanie wasn't here anymore, the guilt that kept trying to reach her surface, finally did. Elena felt awful for doing this, but the guilt would have to keep subsiding.

Making Damon compel Jeremy into leaving Mystic Falls had been the right thing to do. And also trying to convince Melanie into doing the same thing, was also the right thing. Of course it would of been much easier to compel her, but she still had some leftover vervain in her system. So all Elena could do now, was make Melanie leave the old fashion way. By making it seem like it was her own choice to leave Mystic Falls. For her to leave. Away from the danger, away from Klaus, and deep down she wanted Melanie to be just far away from Rebekah. Even if the blonde original vampire was still daggered, the oldest Gilbert was going to try her hardest to keep that dire secret from Melanie.

* * *

_**Wow, this was a long chapter. I fixed it, adding a few of the chapters together. Thought that would even the flow of the story. Thanks for those who actually read this whole thing. ^_^**_


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